


< « t ' «C1< *^ "^ <^ 



< <: c c <c 

cs-Ca CC c 
■ « y< i. <: <r •• 

<c.a <.. C C « 

ct«f « CC 'C 



- <: c CC c. 



- ^ C' C c, C 

<: c '< f c 






c ■ ^ «' ■'•• 









r «: '^T' r<. 
^r *«r *^«: 






c-< r c ^ <' 



C'^ ^<r 



■ * 




4 


WJ'.-S ^ ' -s^^r 








I^Cf <" O^'T <-- "c C'<^* 


f^ «rc ec < - ^ ^i 


^<:c« c <^<Sl 


r <- w c < r^i^. , 


^<CC C< re C .^C 


'«-< « ' ^ < ^^ ^ 


'/'rr c- re <V^<' 




«=' V ' c^ CL^'ttr '< ,*■ 


^C Cf •• c ^^^%, .< 



-^•^t vv-'ccc; <1<^ < <'' 



<o ^r. C. ■'^''CwT' << 

«. '< ( ' C "CCc • ICC 

CC. 'f ■< (■ < <r<i-'>-ccc 

Cv f <■ ' ' r'tt.r'cCK' 

C^ c-^^ <■ ■'.: r- if, f, CO 



S « CC 

I, r r c-rcc CC 



LIBRARY OF CONGRESS. 

PRESENTED BY 



UNITED STATES OP AMERICA. 



c^ C:r C^BC C C 






; Ctt'r CC *'^< 

V re «: CC '«> jf 



< c««:' c 

'< r csi tax 



>. ccV tec C C •C'T'j 

c crc <:<cr c ^ ^^.-^e^ , ,^ 

*,<: 1- <rc > < <- < 

T' r re <r CC 

<: ^ rtT c V c 

f r rc ^ rf 

xc '<^C C cx'cc<rs cc<r cxc < 

C^C -XJC, C CC Cf<C:c. C CC. C CC c 

:>c ccv^ c c<:c'c<c^ '- «:> < cc c 

/c roc C <<CC'C:^<C^ ^^'*^<=r 

.r-C o^C C C<vCfC'. <r C. c«r C 



C CCC <^C 

'CcCrC '<^C' 

~^m:' ■<'<^ cc<«: 

^' (< rC<c 
«;bC.«' ' < <^ <^<^< 

T^C re C 

— cr ''<- . 

CCc C -Co 
•rcc < c <-< 
<c r CC 

c c cc< 

c <- CC' 
_c r CC 

«C C CC « .^^ 

««^ C <C_ CJC^<5 



c. cr c 

c CC c 



c C C <CC<^CfC 



<» <?-c rt^ *c«r<-€. 



^^ 



c ^cc c 

e<cec 

cTc-ccc r 
< ccc 
•< 'ccc C 
: r .c< r 

<^ <ccc < 

L <- • < c 
c c r 

c c r 

c c c _ 



>■<: (G^-C 






<7.;r'<r, 






■ •^ v«: «-.. ,r^ 












^fc" «:-«<■ 









^ «:^r 



^ '• «.' c" «r '•^ 









^:'^<s 















^ <:'c<<, 
- ^\^ 

<^ c c<:c c;-^ ««r: 
r c cc« <:- fir' 

ccccr <:rf<-.. -c 

: c < c- c: c t •- 

<' c *.<-«: c- <- < 

' c <!' c: <?■ r- < . 

ate C^ C C C <: ._ 

^C*- <"_ < ^ c '. 

^< ^^ ^ C -..( 



<^ < 












f fit 



C crr4 









i:c:^;^:;:s.«^\: 












^^ -' 



rP^' -^^^ 






<?L<-r:^QKi 



^?s^<^^< 



ll 



MINNESOTA: 



ITS 



RESOURCES AND PROGRESS 



rrs 



BEAUTY, HEALTHFULNESS AND FERTILITY ; 



AND ITS 



ATTRACTIONS AND ADVANTAGES 



AS A HOME FOR IMMIGEANTS 



lV"liYiy:e..v^t«?i. 
COMPILED BY THE COMMISSIONER OF STATISTICS, 

AND PUBLISUED BY DIRECTION OF 

HORACE AUSTIN, GOVERNOR. 





ST. 


PAUL : 


PRESS 


PRINTING COMPANY 






1870. 






^S^ 



MINNESOTA: 



ITS 



ATTRACTIONS, RESOURCES AND PROGRESS. 



GEOGEAPHICAL AND HISTORICAL. 

The State of Minnesota occupies the exact centre of the conti- 
nent of North America. It lies midway between the Arctic and 
Tropic circles — midway between the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans 
— and midway between Hudson's Bay and the Gulf of Mexico. 
It embraces the sources of the three vast water s^'^stems which 
reach their ocean termini, northward through Hudson's Bay, 
eastward through the chain of great lakes, and southward via 
the Mississippi River. It extends from 43^° to 49° of north 
latitude, and from 89° 29' to 97° 5' of west longitude ; and is 
bounded on the north by the Winnipeg district of British 
America, on the west by the Territory of Dakota, on the south by 
the State of Iowa, and on the east by Lake Superior and the State 
of Wisconsin. 

The State derives its name from its principal river, which the 
Dakotas named "Minnesota," signifying, by a somewhat liberal 
and poetical rendering, "cloud-colored" or " sky-tinted water." 
The name is peculiarly apt and appropriate, the waters of that 
river, contrasted with the dark coffee-colored flood of the Missis- 
sippi, possessing that peculiar tint of a slightly clouded sky which 
is compounded of many colors. 

This important region was almost wholly unknown to the Anglo- 
American long after other sectionsof the country, far less inviting, 
had been subjected to the refining influences of industry, science, 
and religion. Indeed, until within the last twenty -flve years, few 
sounds, save those of wild beast and wilder men, broke the still- 
ness of the awful solitude ; and prairie, lake and ri^er were alike 



4 MINNESOTA. 

the possession of the savage aborigines. But now the steamboat 
plows its waters, the rail cai" whistles through its valleys, the axe 
resounds thi'oughout its mighty forests, and the work of improve- 
ment goes forward with almost unparalleled rapidity. 

The immigrant, tourist, and land sm*veyor have explored its 
utmost reach, and observation has accumulated facts, science 
deduced principles, and enterprise developed capabilities, which 
give to Minnesota a prominent position among the States of the 
Union ; whilst the beautj' of its scener}-, the healthfulness of its 
climate, the wealth of its agricultm'al and mineral resources, the 
vastness and variety of its manufacturing facilities, and the gran- 
deur of its commercial position, make it the most desirable of 
localities for the multitudes . coming westward in quest of new 
homes, new fields of enterprise, and improved advantages for 
ultimate success. 

Although the first actual settlement of Minnesota, and the effort 
to develope its vast resources, are of so recent date, nearly two 
centuries have elapsed since its discovery and partial exploration 
by white men. As early as 1680, Louis Hennepin, a Franciscan 
priest, in companj' with fur traders employed b}' a French explor- 
ing party, ascended the Upper Mississippi as far as the great falls, 
to which he reverently gave the name of Saint Anthony. The 
early strife for American territor}- between England and France 
resulted in the treaty of Versailles in 1763, by which all the 
territory now embracing Minnesota was ceded to the former power. 
In 1766 Captain Jonathan Carver, a native of Connecticut, a 
zealous roj'alist and enthusiastic adventm-er, undertook an explo- 
ration of England's newly-acquired possessions. In the fall of 
that year he reached St. Anthony Falls, and ascended the Missis- 
sippi some miles further, and then returned to the mouth of the 
Minnesota, ascended that river, and passed the winter of 1766-7 
among the Indians near the present site of New Ulm. Carvei 
was deepl}" impressed with the extraordinary beauty and fertility 
of the country. Of the region adjacent to St. Anthony Falls he 
left this glowing description : 

" The couutrj' around them is extremely beautiful. It is not an uuiu- 
terrupted plaiu where the eye finds no relief, but coraposcdof many gentle 
ascents, which in the summer are covered with the tluest verdure and 
interspersed with little groves that gi^e a pleasing variety to the prospect. 
On the whole, when the Falls are included, which may be seen at the 
distance of four miles, a more pleasing and picturesque view I believe 
cannot be l mnd throughout the universe.'" 

The Nortiiwestern Territory, including what is now Minnesota, 



GEOGRAPHICAL AXD HISTORICAL. O 

was transferred to the United States in 1783 ; but no attempt was 
made to extinguish the Indian title until 1805, when a purchase 
was made of a tract of land for military pm-poses at the mouth of 
the St. Croix and another at the mouth of the Minnesota River, 
including St. Anthony Falls. Upon the latter was commenced 
the construction of Fort Snelling, in the summer of 1820. In 
1822 the first mill was built in Minnesota. It was erected under 
the supervision of the officers of the fort, for the use of the 
garrison. 

The summer of 1823 is memorable for the arrival of the first 
steamboat, the Virginia, at Mendota, opposite Fort Snelling. A 
few years subsequent to this period, a company of Swiss, from the 
Selkirk settlement, located near the site of Saint Paul, and were 
the pioneers of agriculture in Minnesota. 

During the year 1832 the first regular mail was brought to Fort 
Snelling. Measures were being taken by the government to obtain 
a title from the Indians to the lands east of the Mississippi, and 
in anticipation of the event, settlements had been commenced as 
early as 1836, on the east side of the river, between Saint Paul 
and Fort Snelling. In 1838 the Indian title to this section became 
extinct. 

In 1843 was commenced the settlement of Stillwater, on the Saint 
Croix, and the erection of a saw-mill at that place. Up to this, 
time the section now known as Minnesota had belonged to various 
successive territorial organizations, having no separate govern- 
ment of its own. But on the third of March, 1849, Congress 
passed a bill organizing the Territory of Minnesota, whose boun- 
dary on the west was the Missouri River, designating Saint Paul 
as the capital, and appointing Alexander Ramsey, of Pennsylvania, 
as Governor. 

At this time Minnesota was an unexplored wilderness, the home 
of the savage, the hunting-ground of the half-breed and the resort 
of the fur trader and government officials. All the lands on the 
west, and a large portion of those on the east side of the Missis- 
sippi, were still in the possession of the original inhabitants. 
Saint Paul and Stillwater were small villages, and other settlements 
mere hamlets. The whole population of the Territory was but 
little over four thousand. At the opening of navigation came the 
first great wave of immigration. On the first of June the Gover- 
nor proclaimed the Territory duly organized. On the third of 
September was convened the first legislative assembly. 

Thus, in rapid succession, transpired those events which gave 
Minnesota a distinct existence, and an important position among 



6 MINNESOTA. 

the States of the Union. In the j'ear 1851, in consequence of a 
treaty with the Indians, the lands on the western side of the 
Mississippi were opened for settlement. Two years later these 
Indians were removed to their new homes on the Upper Minnesota. 

The tide of immigration was now setting in with irresistible 
force. The emigrant wagon wended its way over bluff and prairie ; 
the wharves were crowded with boats loaded with new comers 
from the valleys of the Wabash and Ohio, from the banks of the 
Hudson and Kennebec, from the green hills of Vermont and the 
ocean shores of Massachusetts ; and mingled with these were 
representatives from nearly every country of Northern Europe. 
Here congregated the idle wanderer, the man of broken fortune 
and lost health, the hard-handed laborer, the shrewd, calculating 
man of business, the restless, keen-eyed speculator, the capitalist, 
student, and politician ; the lad\' of fashion, and the care-worn 
mother with the infant in her arms. 

Villages suddenly expanded into cities ; towns sprang up on the 
water-courses ; magnificent schemes were formed for future aggran- 
dizement ; money was abundant ; and excitement, speculation, and 
fortune-making were almost the sole pursuits of the masses. 

Suddenly came the great financial crisis, in 1857, when specula- 
tion collapsed, money disappeared from the market, property 
depreciated in value with the rapidity- with which it had been 
inflated, and immigration almost entirely ceased. Upon immigra- 
tion, the Territorj'^ was, at that time, almost wholly dependent for 
its rapid growth of population ; upon such growth of population 
was founded the enhanced A'alue of property ; and upon such advance 
of property were based the exacting and fabulous rates of interest 
which were eagerly paid b}' sanguine speculators. Thus the 
schemes of the da}-, the calculations of business and the expecta- 
tions of a generous future, were instinct with a common hope ; and 
when the supporting cause in these linked dependencies gave way, 
the unsubstantial fabric fell, burning its builders in its ruins. 

It is difficult to exaggerate the extent and vital character of this 
sudden revulsion. The most priucel}' fortunes vanished like 
shadowy dreams. With men rated among the wealthiest it was 
not now a question of meeting a maturing obligation or compass- 
ing a cherished scheme in the future, but the more urgent one of 
averting present starvation from their families. Fast horses were 
put to the plough, stylish equipages disappeared, holiday apparel 
was refurbished for new service, and expectant fortune hunters 
sought by unwonted labor to earn an honest livelihood. 

The people thus made wiser by reverses, turned instinctively to 



GEOGRAPHICAL AND HISTORICAL. 7 

the unreckoned wealth of the virgin soil. Labor with its uecesssi- 
ties and rewards possessed a new significance and achived new 
wonders. The irrepressible energy of these young communities 
found ample exercise in the development of our vast agricultural 
resources, and perhaps the world affords no parallel to the progress 
witnessed during the two j'ears ending with 1860. In 1854 the 
cultivated area embraced but 15,000 acres ; in 1857 it was esti- 
mated at 48,000 ; in 1860 it had reached a grand total of 433,267 
acres ! 

Thus it appears that the dawn of agricultural prosperity in 
Minnesota was co-incident with the great financial revulsion, and 
one of its most natural results. But the most important result of 
this crisis, and that which was peculiarly favorable to the future 
gi'owth of Minnesota, was the instantaneous check given to specu- 
lation in Western lands. In many of the Western States the 
speculator preceeded the emigrant, bought up at government 
price as soon as they were ofi^iered in the market, and still holds 
in native wildness, some of the fairest sections of the Mississippi 
Valley. 

Fortunately in Minnesota a concurrence of circumstances rescued 
the largest and best portion of the State from this dire hindrance 
to settlement and progress. Most of the public lands here could be 
obtained only under the provisions of the pre-emption laws, which 
required an actual settlement as a condition of transfer by the 
government : the financial embarassment soon followed and kept 
aloof the speculator, till the timely passage of the Homestead Act 
saved the public lands forever from his grasp. 

And now, while large portions of Illinois, Wisconsin, and Iowa 
lie idly in the hands of speculators who hold the lands at prices 
far^above the reach of the mass of immigrants, the equally fertile 
lands of far healthier Minnesota are reserved for the future homes 
of the frugal and industrious people who are flocking to us from 
Northern Europe, and from the overcrowded localities of the 
Eastern States. Here they may find the bountiful soil, the beau- 
tiful scenery, the crystal streams and limpid lakes, the bracing 
climate, the liberal institutions and fostering influences adapted to 
the home of a noble race, who shall reap here the just reward of 
industry, enterprise and a laudable ambition. 

Congress having passed an enabling act, a State Constitution 

was formed in the summer of 1857. The fall following, State 

oflicers and members of Copgress were chosen ; and on the 11th 

day of May, 1858, the State was formally admitted into the Union. 

Minnesota nobly responded to the various calls of the general 



8 MENNESOTA. 

government for aid against her enemies in the great civil war. 
She furnished the lo3-al cause more than 24,000 troops, or one- 
seventh of her entire population ; and their conduct in the most 
trying situations, measured by whatever test of courage, endurance 
or discipline, answered the highest expectations of them as citizen 
soldiers, and reflected lasting honor upon the State. 

The year 1862 will ever be memorable in the history of the 
State as the epoch of the terrible Indian massacre, which hardly 
finds its parallel in the annals of savage barbarit}'. The j'ear had 
opened auspiciously for Minnesota. Congress had just passed the 
Homestead Act, immigration was on the increase, population and 
improvement were reaching westward, the fields promised an abun- 
dant harvest ; when suddenly came the merciless marauder upon 
our defenceless frontier settlements ; whole families were mas- 
sacred, villages burnt, and thousands of industrious, prosperous 
citizens driven penniless from their desolated homes. Stringent 
measures were proraptlj' adopted for the suppression of this savage 
outbreak. Many of those most directly guilty suffered at the 
hands of the executioner, and not only all concerned in the mas- 
sacre, but the remnant of the Sioux not implicated, and all the 
hitherto peaceful Winnebagoes, were, as a precaution, removed to 
a new reservation on the Missouri River. The onlj- Indians still 
remaining in the State are a few bands of distant, feeble and 
friendly-disposed Chippewas. "With the more important of these a 
treaty was concluded in 18G2, by which their title to about 10,000 
square miles of territory, embracing the fertile valley of the Red 
River of the North was extinguished, leaving only a small portion 
of inferior land in this State still in the hands of the Indians. 

Those sad days are now happily past. Since 1863 not a hostile 
Indian has been in the State or near it. Peace and securitj' pre- 
vail throughout our borders. The tide of immigration has resumed 
its course hither with augmented volume, remote and fertile sec- 
tions are being made accessible by the extraordinary development 
of our magnificent railroad system ; agricultural and manufactur- 
ing industry is advancing with unparalleled rapiditj^ ; educational 
facilities are being .developed and extended under a magnificent 
land endowment ; and it may in short be confidently claimed that 
in no part of the world has there been achieved progress in all the 
aids to prosperity, power and happiness, comparable to that which 
the past five years have witnessed in favored Minnesota. 



BEAUTY AND FERTILITY. 



BEAUTY AND FERTILITY OF THE STATE. 

In Minnesota, are found neither the illimitable level prairies 
which distinguish Illinois, nor the vast impenetrable forests of 
Indian^ and Ohio, in which the settler finds it so difficult to 
carve himself a home.; but a charming alternation of woods and 
prairie, upland and meadow, characterizes the topography of this 
State. 

The general surface of the country is undulating, similar to the 
rolling prairies of the adjoining States of Iowa and Wisconsin ; 
with greater diversity, beaut}^ and picturesqueness imparted to the 
scenery by rippling lakes, sparkling waterfalls, high bluffs and 
wooded ravines. 

To the general evenness of the surface, the high lands known 
as the Hauteurs des Terres, form the only exception. These are 
a chain of drift hills in the northern part of the State, commonly 
with flat tops, rising from 80 to 100 feet above the level of the 
surrounding country. Among these hills lie embedded the lakes 
that give rise to the three great rivers of the continent. The 
Mississippi, pursuing a southward direction, over ledges of lime- 
stone, through fertile prairies and rich savannas, gathering its 
tributaries from a country of great fertility and nearly equal in 
extent to one-third the area of Europe, pours its waters into the 
Gulf of Mexico. Eastwardly, through lakes, rivers and foaming: 
cataracts, flow the waters of the St. Lawrence sj-stem, finding 
their way into the Atlantic. Northward runs the Red River, by a 
circuitous route to Lake Winnepeg, where it mingles with waters 
brought fi'om the Rocky Mountains by the Saskatchewan, and rolls 
onward to Hudson's ^ay. 

Three-quarters of the State may be generally described as roll- 
ing prairie, interspersed with frequent groves, oak openings, and 
belts of hard-wood timber, watered by numberless lakes and 
streams, and covered with a warm, dark soil of great fertility. 
The rest, embracing the elevated district immediately west of 
Lake Superior, consists mainly of the rich mineral ranges on its 
shores, and of the pine forests which clothe the head-waters of 
the Mississippi, affording inexhaustible supplies of lumber. 

OFFICIAL AND SCIENTIFIC TESTIMONY. 

General, then Captain, Pope was commissioned in 1849 to make 
a topographical survey of Northwestern Minnesota. In his- 
2 



10 MINNESOTA. 

official report to Congress he used the following glowing language 
touching the beaut}'^ and resources of that region : 

" I have traversed this territory from north to south, a distance of 500 
miles, and with the exception of a few swamps, I have not seen one acre 
of unproductive land." Again: "The examination of a portion of this 
territory during the past summer has convinced me that nature has been 
even more lavish in her gifts of soil, than in her channels of communica- 
tions." 

"I know of no country on earth where so many advantages are pre- 
sented to the farmer and manufacturer." 

"In this whole extent It presents an almost unbroken level of rick 
prairie, intersected at right angles by all the heavily-timbered tributaries 
of the Red Kiver, from the east and west— the Red River itself running 
nearly due north through its centre, and heavily timbered on both banks 
with elm, oak, ash, maple, &c., &c. This valley, from its vast extent, 
perfect uniformity of surface, richness of soil, and the unlimited supply 
of wood and water, is among the finest wheat countries in the world." 

Of the region surrounding Otter Tail Lake the same writer 
says : 

" The whole region of country for fifty miles in all directions around 
this lake, is among the most beautiful and fertile in the world. The fine 
scenery of lakes and open groves of oak timber, of winding streams con- 
necting them, and beautifully rolling country on all sides, renders this 
portion of Minnesota the garden spot of the Northwest. It is impossible 
in a report of this character, to describe the feelings of admiration and 
astonishment with which we first beheld the charming country in the 
vicinity of this lake; and were I to give expression to my own feelings 
and opinions in reference to it, I fear they would be considered the rav- 
ings of a visionary or an enthusiast." 

" Carlton," of the Boston Journal, who accompanied the pai'ty 
who examined the route of the Northern Pacific Railroad in July, 
1869, speaks thus of a portion of the same section of country : 

" How exhilarating to gallop over the pathless expanse amid a sea of 
flowers, plunging now and then through grass so high that horse and 
rider are almost submerged. * ♦ * 

"The bufl'alo are gone. The ox and cow are coming to their place. 
Sheep and horses will soon fatten on the rich pasturage of these hills. 
We of the East would hardly call them hills, much less mountains, the 
slopes are so gentle and the altitudes so low. * » * 

"On our second day's march we came to a section of country that 
might with propriety be called the park region of Miune.'iota. It lies 
amid the highlands of the divide. It is more beautiful than even the 
country around "White Bear Lake and in the vicinty of Gleuwood. 
Throughout the day we ride amid such rural scenery as can only be found 
amid the most lovely spots of England. 

" Think of an undulating country, rounded hills, with green slopes— 
of lawns and parks and countless lakes— calm waters reposing amid the 
hills, skirted by forests, fringed with rushes, perfumed by the lilies, or 



BEAUTV AND FERTILITY. 11 

of the waves rippling on graveled beaches ; of wild geese, ducks, 
loons, pelicans and innumerable water fowl building their nest amid the 
reeds and rushes; think of lawus as blooming with flowers, of elk and 
deer browsing amid the meadows. This is their haunt. We see their 
tracks along the sandy beaches, but they keep beyond the range of our 
rifles. 

" So wonderfully has nature adorned this section, that it seems as if we 
were riding through a country that has been long under cultivation, and 
that behind yonder hillock we shall find an old castle, or at least a farm 
house, as we find them in Great Britain. 

" I do not forget that I am seeing Minnesota at its best season, that it 
is midsummer, that the winters are as long as in New England ; but I can 
say without reservation that nowhere in the wide world, not even in 
England, the most finished of all lands; not in la belle France, or sunny 
Italy, or in the Valley of the Ganges, or the Yanktze, or on the slopes of 
the Sierra Nevada, have I beheld anything approaching this region in 
natural beauty. 

" How it would look in winter I cannot say, but the members of our 
party are unanimous in their praises of this park region of Minnesota. 
Tlie land is unsurveyed, and the nearest pioneer is forty miles distant, 
but land so inviting will soon be snapped up by settlers." 

Of the Red River Valley the same writer saj^s : 
" The sun shines through a mellow haze, while all around as far as the 
eye can see there is such richness of verdure, such wealth of greenness 
and display of flowers, that the language descriptive of the Elysian fields 
and the choicest and best of poesy is too forceless and feeble to convey 
an idea of the richness and beauty of this fair region of the world." 

Col. J. J. Abert, chief of the Topographical Engineers, in a 
report to the War Department, in 1854, described a portion of 
Southern Minnesota as " abounding in rolling prairies, with tim- 
ber generally near, soil rich and offering mau}^ inducements to the 
immigrant ;" and he speaks elsewhere of the " beautiful sheets of 
water fringed with timber," and of " beautiful groves of oak, 
relieving the monotonous appearance of the prairies." 

David Dale Owen, the eminent geologist, speaking of Southern 
Minnesota, designates it as " a fertile, well watered and desirable 
farming country." The same writer, describing another portion 
of the same section, saj's : 4 

"The scenery on the Ehine with its castellated heights has been the 
admiration of European travelers for cefaturies. Yet is is doubtful 
whether in actual beauty of landscape it is not equalled by that of some 
of the streams that water this region of the far West." 

J. N. Nicollet, a scientific explorer, in a report to the War 
Department, gave the name of "Undine Region" to the fertile 
and admirably watered country around the great bend of the Minne- 
sota River, describing it as '' of a most picturesque appearance ;" . 



12 MTNTfESOTA. 

and he further avers that this and the Minnesota Valley " exceed 
any land on the Mississippi River above the "Wisconsin River as 
well in the quality of their timber as in the fertility of their soil." 

Captain Jonathan Carver, who explored this country more than 
a century ago, spoke of the Minnesota Valley as " a most de- 
lightful country, abounding with all the necessaries of life, that 
grow spontaneously." He speaks of 

" Trees bending under the loads of fniits, meadows covered with hops 
and many sorts of vegetables, the ground stored with useful roots, and 
eminences a little distance from the river, from which you have views 
that cannot be excelled, even by the most beautiful of those I have already 
described." 

G. W. Featherstonaugh, an English traveler, in 1835, in his 
" Report of a Geological Reconnoisance," speaks of this valley as 
" extremely beautiful — charming slopes, with pretty dells inter- 
secting them, studded w4th trees as gracefully as if they had been 
planted with the most refined taste." 

Prof. Owen, speaking of the Lake Superior region, says : " The 
scenery of the whole extent of the ranges north of the lake is 
bold and picturesque." 

A. H. Hanchette, State Geologist, speaking of the rivers flowing 
into Lake Superior in this State, says : 

" The majority of these streams have their sources in lakes and low 
lands away beyond the ranges, and running nearly parallel with each 
other, cut down tlirough them and find their way to the great lake, over 
rippling cascades or frowning precipices magnificently high." 

Major Long, of the U. S. Army, speaks of the scenery of the 
Mississippi as " bold, wild, and majestic," and describes one of the 
Hills on the north shore of Lake Superior as 

"Equalling Niagara in the grandeur and sublimity of its scenery, 
although less extensive, the fall being 130 feet, hut with features equally 
terrific — the deep iutonation more sensible and having a nearer resem- 
blance to the roar of distant thunder and the rumbling of an earthquake." 

The " Dalles" of the St. Croix river are every year attracting 
tourists in increasing numbers, by their wild and picturesque 
beauty. The falls of Minne-ha-ha, the " laughing waters," have 
been so immortalized by Longfellow's " Hiawatha" as to require 
no description ; while the equally beautiful cascade, " Minne-inne- 
opa," near Mankato, annually elicits expressions of admiration 
from thousands of delighted visitors. Scores of other rare fea- 
tures might be named which contribute to the charms of our 
scenery. 

As a concise general description of the landscape of Minnesota 
it may finally be said that 

" The number and beauty of its groves and belts of timber, which 



MINERALS. 13 

crown the undulations of the uplands or shadow the margins of the 
streams, break up the monotony of the prairie into forms of infinite 
variety and beauty, and unite all the elements not only of successful hus- 
bandry, but of delightful landscape in the limits of almost every farm." 

Of this beautiful and fertile region, fashioned by the lavish hand 
of nature, and awaiting the developing hand of industry, J. A. 
Wheelock, Esq., former Commissioner of Statistics, used the 
following striking language in his official report for 1860 : 

*' All the circumstances of its position and structure indicate it as the 
imperial domain of agriculture in its highest development, of an agricul- 
ture reposing on the most perfect conditions ; no longer isolated and 
rustic, but elevated to the rank of a glorious art by the appliances of 
science and mechanism; the genius of a civilization in which commerce 
shall be slave instead of mistress, to carry the affluence and culture of 
cities through the ramifications of its natural and artificial highways, to 
all the homes of a people at once rural in their virtues and metropolitan 
in their refinements." 



MINERALS. 



The northeastern corner of the State comprises a mineral field, 
which, if we may trust the deductions of geologists, will be in- 
ferior only to agriculture as a source of wealth. 

Copper. — Copper abounds in the mineral belt stretching along 
the northern shore of Lake Superior ; and large masses of the 
pure metal have been taken from Knife and Stuart rivers. The 
editor of the St. Paul Press, in October, 1863, says : 

"Three several mines are being worked on the Minnesota coast of Lake 
Superior. * * * Any one at all acquainted with the copper-bearing 
formations of Lake Superior, can but see that this State has a rich mineral 
district, which has only to be examined and brought into notice, to secure 
immediate and extensive working. The three workings now started at 
distant localities, will prove highly satisfactory, as scarcely a brea,k occurs 
through the entire range, from the St. Louis river to the British boundary, 
at an elevation of from six hundred to one thousand feet." 

The lower magnesian limestone and sandstone, near Lake Pepin, 
according to Dr. Owen, are metaliferous, yielding lead and copper. 
But no mines have as yet been attempted. 

Iron. — Iron ore is found in considerable quantitj' around Port- 
age and Pigeon rivers. The metal wrought from this ore has been 
put to the severest test, and found fully equal in tenacity and 
maleability to the best Swedish and Russian iron. The gi'owing 



14 MINNESOTA. 

importance of this mineral resource may be inferred from the table 
of shipments of iron ore from the Superior district, which shows a 
rapid increase. 

An iron ore is also found in several localities, between the Blue 
Earth and Le Sueur rivers, which is said to yield thirty-one per 
cent, of light-grey iron. 

Coal. — A coal bed has recently been discovered in Brown 
County, on the Cottonwood River, in the vicinity of New Ulm, and 
is being worked ; but the extent and value of this formation is 
not yet ascertained. Should Minnesota, however, prove to be 
wanting in this valuable mineral, the deficiency can shortly be 
supplied at a cheap rate from the immense coal fields of Iowa. 
These fields are said to cover an area of 25,000 square miles ; and 
a railroad system is in process of construction, which, when com- 
pleted, will place them practically in the neighborhood of the 
mineral district of Lake Superior. 

Gold and Silver. — A geological siu'vey made under the auspices 
of the State, in the summer of 1865, developed the existence of 
the precious metals on the shores of Vermillion Lake, 80 miles 
north of the head of Lake Superior. Scientific analysis attested 
the presence of gold and silver in sufficient quantities, as was 
supposed, to justify an expensive effort to extract them. Accord- 
ingly, joint stock companies were formed and a considerable ex- 
penditure of labor and capital has been made, but while the 
existence of the precious metals in considerable quantities is not 
doubted, their extraction is attended with too much cost in that 
inaccessible situation to warrant a continuance of the effort. 

Slate. — Vast bodies of slate of good quality exist in some 
portions of the State. ^Ir. Thomas Arnold who recently explored 
the State lands on St. Louis Kiver, in the interest of the Mississippi 
and Lake Superior Rail Road Company, reported as follows : 

"Taking this section all through, I think it is the largest and most 
immense body of slate that I have ever heard of. Mr. Humphrey, who is 
a Welchmau, and has worked in the largest quarries in Wales (in some 
of which they work three thousand men,) coincides with me in this opinion. 
It will, of course, require considerable work and expenditure to arrive at 
the per centage of pure workable slate in this huge mass. 

"In concluding this diary I would make the statement, however strange 
it may seem, yet is nevertheless true, that three-fourths of the whole 
slate in this region lies ou the railroad lands. There is slate and room 
enough to employ ten thousand hands, but for a basis of calculation, if 
three thousand men were employed, they could, as is usual at quarries 
now working in the East, produce three-fourths of a square per day for 
each hand ; allowing twenty days to the month would produce fifteen 



MINERALS. 1 5 

squares per man per month, or one hundred and eighty squares per man 
per year, which, for three thousand would be 540,000 squares per annum. 
"Allowing these men common wages for skilled and common labor, say 
three dollars per day, would be equal to four dollars per square ; adding 
for incidental expenses say fifty cents per square, would make a cost de- 
livered on cars of four dollars and fifty cents per square. Total cost of 
production per annum say $3,430,000. These slates are readily worth on 
board of cars, seven dollars per square, which would make a total amount 
of gross earnings $3,780,000, leaving a net profit of $1,350,000." 

Lime. — The burning of lime has been pursued to a large extent 
from the first settlement of the State, the extensive beds of stone 
everywhere found affording abundant material for its prosecution 
on a large scale. 

Salt. — Among the valuable mineral resources of this State are 
the salt springs of the Red River Valley. These reservoirs of salt 
are the beginning of a series of saline springs that reach westward 
on the international boundary line to the Rocky Mountains ; some 
of these springs, even with the imperfect apparatus used b}^ the 
Indians, are said to yield one bushel of good salt to twenty-four 
gallons of brine, or 33. J per cent. 

Building Stone. — Limestone suitable for building purposes, is 
found in immense out-croppings below the Falls of Saint Anthony, 
on the Mississippi and its tributaries, which forms another con- 
siderable item of wealth. That nearest the surface is of a gre^dsh 
rock, easily quarried and worked, but incapable of a high polish. 
Underlying this formation, in manj' localities, is a close-grained 
limestone of a bluish color, highly valuable for building purposes. 
A variety occurs at Saint Peter, resembling marble, and suscep- 
tible of a fine polish. 

The limestone near the mouth of the Cottonwood contains 
ninety-four per cent., and that near the mouth of the Minnesota 
sixty -four per cent, of the carbonate of lime ; and indeed all these 
formations are rich in this element, and consequently valuable for 
building. 

Within the past two years the ledge of granite which makes its 
appearance near Sauk Rapids, has been brought into considerable 
use for building purposes. Its solid blocks form a bealtiful and 
important feature in the construction of the St. Paul Custom House, 
as well as in the facings of other handsome structures throughout 
the city. Large bodies of granite exist in the northeastern part of 
the State. 

White Sand for Glass. — A sandstone of remarkable purity, 
composed of limpid and colorless quartz, varying from forty to 
one hundred feet in thickness, is found overlying the limestone 



16 MINNESOTA. 

formation at Fort Snelling, and along the Mississippi below the 
Falls of Saint Anthony, to Red Rock. Subjected to chemical 
analysis by Nerwood, this stone gave but two-tenths of one per 
cent, of foreign matter, which is alumina, with a trace of a car- 
bonate of lime, and is pronounced by him even purer than the 
celebrated Linn sand used b\- Scotch manufacturers of flint glass. 

Prof. Owen's (U. S. Geologist) report sajs : "The St. Peter's 
(Minnesota River) country certainly can aftbrd as pure a quality 
of sand as that obtained in Missouri, and now, I believe, extensively 
used in the glass houses of Pittsburg." 

Peat. — Prof. Henr}- H. Eames, State Geologist, 186G, sa3'S in 
his official report : '"In nearly ever}' portion of the State are im- 
mense deposits of peat, and the supply for all practical purposes 
is inexhaustible." 

Tripoli. — He describes a bed of tripoli near Stillwater as of 
"very fine quality," "inexhaustible for all practical purposes," 
and " a source of wealth to the State." 

Clay. — There is an abundance of clay underlying the soil in the 
larger portion of the State, of which brick of a good qualit}' are 
made. Beds of marl, adapted to the manufacture of pottery, are 
found in various places ; and a bed of fine porcelain clay is repor- 
ted in "Wabasha count}'. 



LAKES. 

The number, beauty and picturesqueness of its lakes, form a 
marked feature in the scenery of Minnesota. These lovely little 
sheets of water are found dotting its surface in nearly every sec- 
tion of the State, sparkling on the open prairie, hidden in the 
depths of its primal forests, and glistening like gems of beauty 
among the ragged hills of its northeastern section. They are from 
one to thirty miles in diameter. Some of them are of a circular 
form, others of an exceedingly irregular outline. The water of 
these lakes is remarkably clear and pure, resting upon a basin of 
quartzose sand and pebbles, among which the jasper, agate, and 
cornelian appear conspicuous. These lakes are sometimes found 
isolated, having no outlet ; others are the manifest reservoirs 
whence issue the mighty rivers of the continent ; and again others, 
connected by channels, form systems extending through long 
reaches of country ; and yet again others, connected by rivulets 
into groups diu-ing the wet season, are isolated in a dry time, the 
intervening valleys being converted into meadows, cranberry 



LAKES. 17 

marshes, and swamps. Some of these lakes are surrounded by 
hard, gravelly shores ; others encircled by an embankment several 
feet high ; around some the greensward touches the water's brim ; 
others are fringed with wild rice and various aquatic plants of rare 
beauty. These lakes abound with a great variety of fish of supe- 
rior flavor and quality ; and in spring and autumn they are the 
resort of immense numbers of wild geese, ducks, and other water 
fowl. 

Prof. Maury, former Superintendent of Washington Observatory, 
says : 

"We see, with these beautiful sheets of water, nature has done for the 
Upper Mississippi what Ellet proposed should be doue by the Govern- 
ment for the Ohio, and what Napoleon III is doing for France. Every 
one of these thousand lalies is a reservoir for the rains in the wet season, 
which it reserves to fill up the rivers in the dry — at least this is one of 
their offices, for they have many." 

"Minnesota is far from the sea, but it is a better watered country than 
either Kansas or Nebraska. Indeed it may be considered the best watered 
State in the Union; and it doubtless owes its abundance of summer rains 
measurably to the lake s^ystem." 

" Carlton," the eloquent writer before quoted, speaking of Min- 
nesota lakes, says : 

" The larger lakes are bordered by parks and groves, presenting land- 
scapes of indescribable beauty. Many a pioneer on this Norwestern verge 
of civilization may look out from the door of his log cabin on scenery as 
enchanting as any in old England. True, there is no background of 
mountains, no rocky crag, or deep and tortuous defiles; but there are 
undulations, sunny slopes, gentle swells, rounded wood-crowned sum- 
mits, looking down' upon lakes and ponds dotted with emerald islands, 
or clear waters dancing in the sunlight or reflecting from the glassy sur- 
face the transcendental beauty of the landscape. 

"This region is attractive not only because of its soil and genial clime 
— not because there is great prospect of material wealth— but here nature 
has done much to promote that aesthetic culture, without which a com- 
munity never can reach the highest plane of civilization. Here, in com- 
ing years, on the borders of these lakes, costly mansions .will be reared. 
"Where now the pioneer feeds his pigs will be seen parks and lawns." 

The number of these lakes, large and small, was estimated by 
Schoolcraft at 10,000. This was probably an overestimate, but 
we have the authority of Prof. Maury for the assertion that " there 
is in this Territory a greater number of these lovely sheets of 
laughing water than in all the country besides. They give variety 
and beauty to the landscape ; they soften the air, and lend all their 
thousand charms and attractions to make this goodly land a lovely 
place of residence." 
3 



18 MINNESOTA. 

RIVERS. 

Minnesota has six navigable rivers. Tlie Mississippi, originat- 
ing in Lake Itasca, takes a circular sweep northward, and then 
pursues a southeasterly course, running about 800 miles through 
the State, of which 130 wash its eastern boundary. It is navigable 
in all about 540 miles within the State. 

The St. Croix rises in Northwestern "Wisconsin, flows in a south- 
erly direction into the Mississippi, and forms about 130 miles of 
the eastern boundary of Minnesota. It is navigable for 53 miles. 

The Minnesota River, the principal tributary of the Mississippi 
on the west, rises in the Coteau des Prairies, in Dacotah Territory, 
and extending into Big Stone Lake, on our western boundary, 
flows with a vast sweep thi'ough the heart of the State, and emp- 
ties, 470 miles from its source, into the Mississippi, five miles above 
Saint Paul. It is navigable in favorable seasons about 300 miles, 
and dm"ing the dryest months 50 miles. 

The Red River of the North rises in Minnesota near the source 
of the Mississippi, and after a cux-ular sweep southward flows 
almost due north, forming the northwestern boundaiy of the State, 
a distance of 380 miles. It is navigable in most seasons about 
250 miles. 

The St. Louis River flows into Lake Superior on oiu- northeastern 
boundaiy, a distance of 135 miles, 21 of which are navigable. 

Root River, a tributary of the Mississippi, in Southern Minne- 
sota, has a length of about 75 miles, 24 of which are navigable. 

Besides these the largest rivers are the Rum, Crow, Sauk, Elk, 
Long Prairie, Crow Wing, Blue Earth, Le Sueur, Maple, Cobb, 
Watonwan, Snake, Kettle, Red Wood, Wild Rice, Butfalo, Chip- 
pewa, Marsh, Pomme de Terre, Lac qui Parle, Mustinka, Yellow 
Medicine, Two Rivers, Cottonwood, Cannon, Zumbro, Whitewater, 
Cedar, Red Lake, Straight, Vermilion, and others. These with a 
vast number of smaller streams tributary to them, ramifying through 
fertile upland and grassj' meadow in every section of the State, 
afford invaluable facilities for the various purposes of lumbering, 
milling, manufactm-ing and agriculture. 

TIMBER. 

As before remarked, Minnesota is neither a timber nor a prairie 
State ; yet it possesses in a large degree the advantages of both, 
there being unquestionably a better proportion of timber and 
prairie, and a more admirable intermingling of the two than in 
any other State, excepting possil^ly, Wisconsin. It is estimated 
that about one-third of Minnesota is timbered land, of more or less 



GAME AND FISH. 19 

•dense growth. In Iowa it has been officially estimated that only 
about one-tenth to one-eighth of the State is timbered. On the 
head waters of the various tributaries of the extreme Upper Mis- 
sissippi and St. Croix rivers is an extensive forest country, known 
as the "pine region," comprising an estimated area of 21,000 
square miles. Extending in a north-easterly and south-westerlj"- 
direction, about 100 miles long, and an average width of 40, is the 
largest body of hard-wood timber between the Mississippi and 
Missouri rivers. It lies on both sides of the Minnesota River, 
comprising in all an area of 5000 square miles, and is known as 
the " big woods." This extended forest abounds in small lakes, 
and in some portions it is broken by small prairies and openings 
covered with a luxuriant growth of grass. Elsewhere timber is 
found in detached groves, and bordering the numerous rivers and 
lakes, and a scattered growth of stunted trees called " oak open- 
ings" usually skirt the prau'ies. 

GAME. 

The prairies and forests abound in a great variety of wild ani- 
mals, among which are deer, bears, wolves, foxes, wild-cats, 
raccoons, and rabbits. Otter, mink, beaver, and muskrat, are the 
principal aquatic animals that frequent the water-courses. Buffa- 
loes occasionally visit the western frontier. Pigeons, grouse, and 
partridges, are among the feathered game ; whilst multitudes of 
smaller birds, of sweet song and gay plumage, add then* thousand 
charms to the summer landscape of Minnesota. 

FISH. 

The numerous lakes of Minnesota abound in fish of many 
varieties — pickerel, bass, pike, sun fish, and nearly all kinds of 
small fish. The waters of these lakes are of such extraordinary 
transparency, that the finny inhabitants are plainly seen at a 
depth of twenty feet, and perhaps in no part of the world is the 
sport of fishing more enjoyed than in the cr3'stal streams and 
limpid lakes of Minnesota. 



20 MINNESOTA. 



CLIMATE. 

Prominent among the questions proposed by the emigrant seek- 
ing a new home in a new countr}', are those concerning the climate , 
its temperature, adaptation to the culture of the grand staples of 
food, and its healthfuhiess. 

The climate of Minnesota has often been the subject of unjust 
disparagement. " It is too far north j" " the winters are intoler- 
able ;" '• corn will not ripen ;" '^ fruit will not grow." These and 
other similar remarks have found expression by those who should 
have known better. To the old settler of Minnesota, the seasons 
follow each other in pleasing succession. As the sun approaches 
his nortlicrn altitude, winter relaxes his grasp, streams and lakes 
are unbound, flowers spring up as if by the touch of some magic 
wand, and gradually spring is merged into the bright, beautiful 
June, with its long, warm days, and short, but cool and refreshing 
nights. The harvest months follow in rapid succession, till the 
golden Indian summer of early November foretells the approach 
of cold and snow ; and again winter, with its short days of clear, 
bright sky and bracing air, and its long nights of cloudless beauty, 
completes the circle. 

It will be remembered, that though Minnesota has no mountain 
peaks, its general elevation gives it the characteristics of a moun- 
tainous district ; that, while it is equi-distant from the oceans that 
wash the eastern and western shores of the continent, and is 
therefore comparatively unatfected by oceanic influences, it has a 
great water system of lakes and rivers within its own borders. 
These, combining with other influences, give the State a climate 
in many respects dissimilar to the other northern States. 

One of the most striking of the peculiarities of this climate, is 
the great variation between the extreme cold of wintei , when mer- 
cury occasionally congeals, and the intense heat of midsummer, 
when it stands for many consecutive days at 95° above zero, in 
I lie shade. 

But these extremes afford no index to the real character of the 
climate of Minnesota. Fortunately, we have ample means by 
which to determine its actual temperature, and also its tempera- 
ture compared with other and more widely-known localities. 

From records kept for a scries of years, at different places, the 
Commissioner of Statistics, in his report for 18G0, furnishes the 
data for the following summary : Central Minnesota has a mean 
temperature, in the spring (15. G",) equal to Northern Illinois, 



CLIMATE. 21 

t 

Southern Michigan, Massachusetts, and Rhode Island. Its summer 
mean temperature (70.6^) coincides with that of Central Wiscon- 
6in, Southern Pennsylvania, and Central New Jersey. Its autumn 
temperature (49.5°) is the equivalent of Central Wisconsin, 
Northern New York, New Hampshire, and Southern Maine. Its 
winter mean temperature (16.1°) equals that of Northern Wis- 
consin, the southern limit of Canada East, Central Vermont and 
New Hampshire, and Northeastern Maine. 

Its yearly mean temperature (44.6°) coincides with that of 
Central Wisconsin, Michigan, Central New York, Southern Ver- 
mont, New Hampshire, and Maine, and has a range from the sum- 
mer heat of Southern Ohio and Southern Pennsylvania, Thus, in 
the breadth of four degrees, the summers of Pennsylvania and 
Sardinia (in Italy,) are followed by the winter of Canada and 
Northern Russia. 

From rain tables, prepared from observations recorded for a 
series of years at sixteen difterent places in Canada and the States, 
it appears that the mean 3'early fall of rain for all the places is 
35.5 inches ; whilst the mean yearly fall at Fort Snelling is 25.4 
inches ; and the mean summer fall for all the places is 11.2 inches ; 
whilst the mean summer fall at Fort Snelling is 10.9 inches. 

Thus it will be seen, that while Minnesota had a yearly fall of 
rain ten inches less than the mean of all the places, its summer 
rain is but a fraction of an inch less than the mean summer rain of 
all the places. It may be added, that one-half of the spring rain 
falls in the mouth of Ma}', and a fraction more than one-half of 
the rains of autumn falls in September, giving more than two-thirds 
of the whole yearl}^ amount of rain to the season of vegetable 
growth, and leaving but the small fraction to the remaining seven 
months of the 3'ear. 

Judging from the climate of New England, where the air is 
loaded with vapor from the ocean, and the ground is for months 
covered with deep snow ; or judging from the more southern of the 
Western States, where rain and sleet are followed by severe cold, 
it has been concluded that winter in Minnesota is a season of ter- 
rible storm, deep snow, and severe cold. The average fall of 
snow is about six inches per month. This snow falls in small 
quantities, at different times, and is rarely blown into drifts so as 
to impede traveling. The first snow fall of November usually lays 
on the ground till March, affording protection to the winter grain. 
Occasionall}' at midda}' a slight thaw occuis in places with a 
southern declivit}'. Two or three times in the course of eight or 
^"ten winters, the ground has been uncovered for a few days. Long, 



22 JUNXESOTA. 

driving snow storms are almost unknown, and rain seldom falls- 
during the winter months. 

It is well known that dampness is the element whence comes 
suffering, whether of cold or warm weather. 

With an average temperature of 16^, the dry atmosphere of 
winter in Minnesota is less eold to the sense than the warmer yet 
damp climate of States several degrees further south. "With the 
new year commences the extreme cold of our Minnesota winter, 
when, for a few days, the mercury ranges from ten to thuty degrees 
below zero, falling sometimes even below that. Yet the severity 
of these days is much softened by the brillianc\' of the sun and 
the stillness of the air. Thus, while other States, in lower lati- 
tudes, ai-e being drenched by the cold rain storms, or hurried 
beneath huge drifts of wintry snow, Minnesota eujo3-s a dry atmos- 
phere, and an almost uubroken succession of bright, cloudless 
days, and serene, star-lit nights ; and when the moon turns her 
full-orbed face towards the earth, the night scene of Minnesota is 
one of peerless grandeur. 

The farmer improves the winter season by preparing fencing 
and fuel, and drawing to market the surplus products of his last 
year's toil. Lumbermen are busy in the forests getting ready logs 
to be borne on the swollen streams of spring to the various lum- 
ber manufactories. Winter in Minnesota is a season of ceaseless 
business activity' and constant social enjoyment ; and by those 
accustomed to long wintry storms, and continued alternations of 
mud, and cold, and snow, pronounced far preferable to the winters 
in any section of the Northern States. Here there is an exhilara- 
tion in the crisp atmosphere which quickens the blood and sends 
the bounding steps over the ringing snow with an exultant flurry 
of high spirits akin to the highest enjoyment. 

March brings an average temperature of 31° and a small increase 
of rain. Snow and ice disappear, and the ground is gradually 
prepared for the plow. April, with a rise of temperature to 46^ 
and a rain fall of two inches, commences the season of vegetable 
growth. As the season advances, the warm south winds, freighted 
with the vapor of southern seas, prevail ; lake and stream send 
forth their exhalations ; gentle and frequent showers descend ; and 
Minnesota — with the summer warmth of Southern Pennsylvania, 
Long Island, and New Jersey — with the long days that, at the 
solstice, scarce admit of darkness between the evening and morn- 
ing twilight — presents a scene of rapid vegetable growth and 
maturity scarcely paralleled in any country. 



ADAPTATION OF CLIMATE TO AGRICULTURE. 23 

ADAPTATIOK OF CLIMATE TO AGRICULTURE. 

Scientific men have determined that the successful cultivation 
of Indian corn requires a temperature of 67° for July, and of 65° 
for the summer. Minnesota has a summer temperature of 70°, 
and a temperature for July of 73°. The cultivation of wheat is 
said to requii-e a mean temperature of from 62° to 65° for two of 
the summer months. Thus it will be seen that the climate of Min- 
nesota is well adapted to the successful cultivation of all the 
cereals. 

The fact established by climatologists, that "the cultivated 
plants yield the greatest products near the northernmost limit at 
which they will grow," finds abundant illustration in the produc- 
tions of Minnesota. It is a well known fact that cereals raised in 
the southern latitude, are far inferior in quality to the same kind 
produced in the cooler climate of the north. 

In southern latitudes, the warm spring developes the juices of 
the plant too rapidly. They run into the stalk and leaf, to the 
neglect of the seed. Corn, for example, rises thirty feet high in 
the "West Indies, but it produces only a few grains at the bottom 
of a spongy cob, too coarse for human food. In the Southern 
States the corn stalk is fifteen feet high, but the product is much 
less than in the Northern States, where the stalk is seven to ten 
feet high — and so of all plants which can be grown at all at the 
North. The cool, late springs of northern climates restrain the 
undue luxuriance of the stem or leaf, and throw the chief develop- 
ment of the plant into the ripening period. With the summer heat 
of Southern Ohio, Minnesota yields a greater product of a given 
plant, and of a richer quality, because its cooler springs check 
the expenditure of the vital juices on the stalk and leaf, to lavish 
them on the fruit. On the other hand, with the same springs as 
Massachusetts, Minnesota produces more abundant harvests, 
because it has a warmer summer. It thus combines the most 
favorable conditions of quantity and quality in its products — and 
the remark applies equally to all the cereals, the esculent roots, 
and the wild grasses of the country, which are as rich as the culti- 
vated species in lower latitudes. Its wheat, barley, potatoes, &c., 
are in high favor throughout the Mississippi Vallej-. 

But the best evidence of the rare adaptation of the climate, as 
well as the soil of Minnesota, to agriculture, are the incontrover- 
tible statements of its bountiful products hereafter shown in this 
pamphlet. 



24 MINNESOTA. 

SALUBRITY OF CLIMATE. 

Of paramount importance to the emigrant, is the healthfulncss 
of the locality which is to be the scene of his future labors and the 
home for himself and family. "What to him are fair fields, flowering 
meadows, buried in the luxuriant growth of fertile soils and tropi- 
cal suns, if they generate fever-producing miasm and vapor ? What 
are soft and perfumed breezes, if they waft the seeds of pestilence 
and death? "What are bountiful harvests of golden grain, and rich 
and mellow fruits, and all the wealth the earth can yield, if disease 
must annuall}' visit his dwelling, and death take awa}- one b}- one 
the loved and the j'oung ? 

It is well known that some of the fairest portions of the Western 
States are so fruitful of the causes of disease, as almost to preclude 
settlement. And multitudes have left theii- comparatively healthy 
New P^ngland and European homes, to find untimelj- graves in the 
rich soil of Indiana, Illinois, Missouri, and Iowa. And even in 
sections of these States deemed most healthy, the climate has an 
enervating effect upon those accustomed to the bracing air of 
Northern Europe and the Eastern States. 

The absence of medical statistics and records of disease and 
mortality, can hardlj^ be subjects of regret, in presence of that 
ample and varied testimony to the healthfulness of the climate of 
Minnesota, which has alread}- made the young State the resort of 
the diseased from all sections of the Union. 

The drjniess of the air, the character of the soil, which retains 
no stagnant pools to send forth poisonous exhalations, the universal 
purity of its water, the beauty of its sceneiy, and the almost total 
absence of fog or mist ; the brilliancy' of its sunlight, the pleasing 
succession of the seasons, all conspire to give Minnesota a climate 
of unrivalled saluljrity, and to make this the home of a joj'ous, 
healthy, prosperous people, strong in phj'sical, intellectual, and 
moral capabilities. And while the chilly, damp winds from the 
Atlantic are sowing broadcast the seeds of that terrible disease, 
pulmonar}' consumption ; while the malarious exhalations from the 
undrained soil of Indiana, Illinois, and other States of the Southern 
Mississippi Valley-, yield an annual harvest of fevers, — Minnesota 
enjo3's an almost entirely immunity from both. If fever and 
ague occur, the germ was imported ; if consumption claims its 
victim, the cause is to be sought elsewhere than in the climate of 
Minnesota. 



TESTIMONY AS TO HEALTHFULNESS OF CLIMATE. 25 

TESTIMONIALS AS TO HEALTHFULNESS. 

But let those testify who are either wholly uuiuterested, or 
whose interest springs from a grateful consciousness of restored 
health resulting from a sojourn in Minnesota. 

Surgeon G. K. Wood, U. S. Army, speaking of the advantages 
of a northern over a southern climate in cases of consumption, 
says : 

"The present injudicious course of sending consumptives to the hot, 
low, and moist coast, and the islands of the Gulf of Mexico, should be 
abandoned. In diseases of debility the remedies are tonics and stimu- 
lants. What is more debilitating than affections of the lungs? and what 
less tonic than heat and moisture combined, as is found in the climate of 
the Gulf Coast? It is simply not cold, and has no other advantage over 
the Northern States." 

Disturnell, author of a work on the "-Influence of Climate in 
North and South America," says that " Minnesota may he said to 
excel any portion of the Union in a healthy and invigorating cli- 
mate." 

Rev. Dr. Horace Bushnell, of Hartford, Conn., distinguished 
at home and in Europe for his genius and learning, writes : 

" I went to Minnesota early in July, and remained there till the latter 
part of the May following. I had spent a winter in Cuba, without bene- 
fit. I had spent also nearly a year in California, making a gain in the dry 
season and a partial loss in the wet season ; returning, however, suffi- 
ciently improved to resume my labors. Breaking down again from this, 
only partial recovery, I made the experiment now of Minnesota; and 
submitting myself, on returning, to a very rigid examination by a physi- 
cian who did not know at all what verdict had been passed by other phy- 
sicians before, he said, in accordance with their opinions, ' You have had 
a difficulty in your right lung, but it is healed.' I had suspected from my 
symptons, that it might be so, and the fact appears to be confirmed by 
the further fact, that I have been slowly, though regularly, gaining all 
summer. ***** 

" It does not follow, by any means, that one who is dying of hereditary 
consumption, or one who is too far gone to have any powers of endurance 
or spring of recuperative energy left, will be recovered in the same way. 
A great many such go there to die, and some to be partially recovered, 
and then die : for I. knew two young men so far recovered as to think 
themselves well, or nearly so, 'who, by over-violent exertion, brought on 
a recurrence of bleeding, and died ; one of them almost immediately, 
and the other in about twenty-four hours — both in the same week. The 
general opinion seemed to be, that the result was attributable, in part, to 
the over-tonic property of the atmosphere. And I have known of very 
many remarkable cases of recovery there, which had seemed to be hope- 
less. One, of a gentleman who was carried there on a litter, and became 
a hearty, robust man. Another, who told me that he coughed up bits of 
his lungs of the size of a walnut, was then, seven or eight mouths after, 

4: 



26 MINNESOTA. 

a perfectly sound-looking, well-set man, with no cough at all. I fell in 
with somebody every few days, who had come there and been restored ; 
and with multitudes of others, whose disease had been arrested so as to 
allow the prosecution of business, and whose lease of life, as they had 
no doubt, was much lengthened by their migration to that region of the 
country. Of course it will be understood that a great many are sadly 
disappointed in going thither, and that as the number of consumptives 
making the trial increases, the funerals of the consumptive strangers are 
becoming sadly frequent. The peculiar benefit of the climate appears to 
be from its dryness. There is as much, or even a little more of rain there 
than elsewhere in the summer mouths, but it comes more generally in the 
night, and the days that follow brighten out in a fresh, tonic brilliancy, 
as dry almost as before. The winter climate is intensely cold, and yet so 
dry, and clear, and still, for the most part, as to create no very great 
sufl'ering. One who is properly dressed, finds the climate much more 
agreeable than the amphibious, half-fluid, half-solid, sloppy, grave-like 
chill of the East. The snows are light — a kind of snow-dew, that makes 
about an inch, or sometimes three, in a night. Real snow storms are 
rare : there was none last winter. A little more snow, to make better 
sleighing, would be an improvement. As to rain in winter, it is almost 
unknown. There was not a drop of it last winter, from the latter part 
of October, to the middle or about the middle of March, except a slight 
drizzle on Thanksgiving Day. And there was not melting snow enough 
for more than eiglit or ten days, to wet a deer-skin moccasin, which many 
of the gentleman wear all winter." 

Rev. H. A. Boardman, D. D., of Philadelphia, who sought Min- 
nesota for his health, wrote as follows : 

"In the stores and shops, on the streets and by the fireside, it is an 
every-day experience to meet Avith residents who came to Minnesota one, 
two, five or ten years ago for their health, and having regained it decided 
to remain. I have talked with some who, having recovered, went away 
twice over, .ind then made up their minds that to live at all they must live 
here. The common mistake Avith consumptives is tliat they defer coming 
until it is too late. Every train brings its quota of invalids, and among 
them there are apt to be some whom no skill but that of the Great Physi- 
cian could relieve. Far better if they had stayed at home to 'die among 
their kindred.' But on the other hand, there are witnesses here by the 
hundred to testify to the healing virtue of this climate in the incipient stages 
of pulmonary disease. Let one example stand for many. Last evening 
I met a gentleman who gave me this narration : ' Ifl April last, my j'oung 
daughter, 13 years of age, had a severe hemorrhage. She grew thin and 
pale, and was evidenlty hastening to the grave. My physician said, 'Take 
her to Minnesota.' I brought her here and rented a small house in the 
suburbs of Minneapolis, (at the Falls of St. Anthony,) and left her in 
charge of her nurse, with instructions to ride out every day, except in the 
rain. I find her now with four inches added to her height, and thirty 
pounds to her weight ; the pain in her chest entirely gone, and no shred 
of disease left except a slight hoarseness.' * * * 

"It appears that the mortality of St. Paul for 18G7 was 1.30 per cent., 



TESTIMONY AS TO HEALTHFULNESS OF CLIMATE. 27 

or about four deaths to every three hundred inhabitants. As these statis- 
tics include strangers and sojourners, as well as residents, they illustrate 
the singular salubrity of the climate more forcibly than any other class of 
facts." 

'■' It is pleasant to be able to add that the society of St. Paul is cultiva- 
ted and refined, and its people eminently hospitable. These are graces 
which tourists, and still more invalids, know how to appreciate." 

Right Rev. Thomas L. Grace, of the Catholic Church, Bishop of 
St. Paul, in McClung's work on Minnesota, saj^s : 

"From my experience during a residence of nearly ten years in Min- 
nesota, I can confidently testify to the very remarkable salubrity of the 
climate, at all seasons of the year. Though the winters are long, the pre- 
vailing temperature is moderate. Intervals of severe cold weather occur 
occasionally, but they are not usually of longer continuance than three or 
four days at a time. The dry, bracing air of Minnesota is pleasant com- 
pared with the damp, raw atmosphere that characterizes the winters of 
more southerly States. The agricultured advantages of the State are de- 
servedly regarded as among the very best." 

Rev. Dr. F. T. Brown, of St. Paul, writing of a remarkably cold 
day in the winter of 18G8, saj's : 

"The sky was without a cloud; not a breath of air was stirring, and 
the stillness and perfect quiet of everything was that of a Sabbath in 
summer. I went to my study as usual, and^felt no unusual sensation of 
cold. In fact, the exhilaration of being out in, and breathing the air, was 
purely delightful. My Sabbath School met at nine o'clock, and was at- 
tended as usual. Quite small children were present, who had come two 
miles. My own children were all out, though one of them is but five 
years old, and none were sutfering from the cold. The church services, 
morning and evening, were attended much as usual. In short, the intense 
cold seemed to trouble no one. In the evening I had occasion to walk 
two miles to see a sick man, and suflered no inconvenience from the 
cold. ***** 

"I have in my congregation men and women who removed here from 
Maryland, Virginia, Kentucky and Mississippi, and they all enthusiasti- 
cally declare that it does not seevi so cold here as it often did in.the States 
whence they came. I can now understand Dr. Kane's statement, that he 
could, without inconvenience, stand 70° below zero, if no wind were 
blowing. And fortunately, here the coldest days are the stillest days." 

Prof. R. T. Trail, M. D., founder of the New York Hygeio- 
Therapeutic College, saj^s : 

" The clear, dry, bracing, atmosphere and invigorating climate of Min- 
nesota have long enjoyed a world-wide reputation, especially in cases of 
incipient consumption, confirmed dyspepsia, bronchial and rheumatic affec- 
tions, and have been extensively resorted to by invalids from the Eastern 
States and Europe. And it is well known, that invalids can bear without 
discomfort, in a dry atmosphere, a temperature of 30° to 40° below the- 
disagreeable point of the damp and chilly atmosphere of the Atlantic 
coast." 



28 MINNESOTA. 

Dr. Brewer Mattocks, of St. Paul, contributed an article to the 
Medical Record, in which he described the peculiar climate of 
Minnesota in its action upon the lungs, and answered the questions 
so frequently asked " who will be benefitted by a residence in Min- 
nesota?" and "at what stage of the disease tuberculous patients 
should be brought here ?" as follows : 

" To the first question I reply, all who would be benefitted by a 
tonic course of treatment. Minnesota possesses a tonic climate, bra- 
cing and stimulating; and that it aff'ords remarkable immunity from 
disease is proved by the fact that in 186S but six American-born persons 
<lied of consumption in St. Paul, and the entire mortality was but one in 
eighty-two. But a certain class of pulmonary patients should not come 
here; those who cannot endure cold, and who are secrainglj'^ 'withered 
up ' by it. They are, as a general thing, of a phlegmatic temperament, 
anaemic and bloodless, having no life or vitaliny, and desiring none. Such 
should be sent South, although there is usually but little hope for such 
patients. But another class, who are of a nervous-sanguine temperament, 
who say they will or they won't, and dread and shrink from the South, 
saying they cannot breathe there, will be benefited by the dry, bracing air 
of Minnesota. Bronchical patients, also, contrary to the general suppo- 
sition, should come here. 

To the second query, " At what stage of the disease should 
■consumptives come to Minnesota ?" Dr. Mattocks replies : 

"As a general rule, when they can travel without inconvenience or 
much fatigue. * The sooner the better, even before the cough, if con- 
sumption is expected. The golden opportufiity is missed if the patient 
waits beyond the period which tlie inconsiderate call laziness, for the 
cure of which, perhaps, the well-meaning, but injudicious physician 
prescribes exercise ; a period often overlooked at the time— a stage 
called the pre-tubercular stage." " 

By the census of 1860, Minnesota exhibited the smallest number 
of deaths in proportion to population, of an}' State in the Union 
excepting Oregon ; and this exception is easily accounted for b}- 
the absence in that State both of a full quota of children, among 
whom is the greatest mortality, and of the consumptives from other 
States, who, in the last stages of the disease, flock to Minnesota 
only to swell our mortality list. 

The following comparative statement exhibits the proportion of 
deaths to population in several countries of Europe and America, 
and in several States of the Union : 



Austria 1 in 40 

Denmark 1 in 45 

Belgium 1 in 43 

England 1 in 46 



Upper Canada 1 in 102 

Lower Canada 1 in 92 

Minnesota 1 in 155 

Wisconsin 1 in 108 



Norway and Sweden . . 1 in 41 Iowa 1 in 93 

Prussia 1 in 39 Illinois 1 iu 88 



SOIL. 29 



Kansas 1 in 74 

Michigan 1 in 101 

Missouri 1 in 67 

Oliio 1 in 94 

Indiana 1 in 88 



Texas 1 

Louisiana 1 

Florida 1 

Pennsylvania 1 

United States 1 



in 


64 


in 


57 


iu 


79. 


in 


96 


in 


74 



SOIL. 

The soil of Minnesota may be divided into four geological 
classifications — limestone, drift, clay, and trap. Scientific analysis 
developes the presence in due proportion of elements of extraor- 
dinary fertility in each of these, comparing favorably with the 
most celebrated soils of the world. This theoretic excellence is 
amply confirmed by the practical results of agriculture as will be 
hereafter shown. 

Mr. Wheelock, formerl}^ Commissioner of Statistics, speaks 
generally of the soil of the State, as follows : 

*'The prevailing soil of Minnesota is a dark, calcareous, sandy loam, 
containing a various intermixture of clay, abounding in mineral salts and 
in organic ingredients, derived from the accumulation of decomposed 
vegetable matter for long ages of growth and decay. The sand, of which 
silica is the base, forms a large proportion of this, as of all good soils. 
It plays an important part in the economy of growth, and is an essential 
constituent in the organism of all cereals. About 67 per cent, of the ash 
of the stems of wheat, corn, rye, barley, oats, and sugar-cane is pure 
silica, or flint. It is this which gives the glazed coating to the plants, 
and gives strength to the stoclv. Now this silica is an acid, and, as found 
in some soils, is insoluble, and cannot be appropriated for the use of the 
plant. But it readily combines with lime, soda, magnesia, potash, alum- 
uia, iron, and magnesia, forming silicates upon these alisalies, and in this 
condition is readily available to the use of the plant, and forms an essen- 
tial element in the growth of the cereals. When the sand exists, there- 
fore, as free silica, as in the sand barrens of New Jersey, or the drift soils 
of Upper Wisconsin, the soil is sterile. But when it exists in the form 
of silicates, in combination Avith the earthy alkalies, it forms a valuable 
constituent of a fertile soil. But another feature of the sands of the drift 
stratum of Minnesota is, that they are derived from fossiliferous rocks, 
abounding in the ancient remains of plants or animals, which probably 
will account for the fact that the poorest and lightest soils in Minnesota, 
possessing the least organic'. sediments, often exhibit a high degree of 
fertility. Furthermore, the predominance of sand in the structure of the 
soil of Minnesota, in attracting and disseminating the heat of the sun 
through its porous texture, is an important agent in the warmth of the 
soil. 



30 MINNESOTA. 

"According to the experiments of Prof. Schubler, the following figures 
show the capacity of different earths to retain warmth, taking limestone 
sand at 100: limestone sand, 100; silicaous sand, 95.fi; potter's clay, 
7G.9; pure grey clay, 66.7; plougliland loam, 70.1. 

"The superiority of sand, in giving a high temperature to the soil, is a 
great advantage in a climate in which the limited period of vegetation 
requires the highest measures of heat. 

"Another important feature of the soil of Minnesota is, that its earthy 
materials are minutely pulverized, and the soil is everywhere light, mel- 
low, and spongy, existing naturally In the condition reached in soils less 
favorably constituted, by expensive under-drainage. "With these uniform 
characteristics, the soils of Minnesota are of difterent grades of fertility, 
according to local situations, or the character of the underlying rocks 
from which their elements have been derived." 

But the rare excellence of the soil of this State, as well as the 
favoring conditions of climate, will be best shown by the official 
statements imder the caption following. 



AGRICULTURE. 

Perhaps no single fact exhibits with greater force the extraordi- 
nary development of our State than the unprecedented enlarge- 
ment of her cultivated area. This in 1850 was 1,900 acres, in 
1869 it was 1,690,000 acres. 

The following statement shows the number of acres of tilled 
land at various periods since the Territorial organization of 
Minnesota in 1849 : 

Acres. Acres. 

Cultivated area, 1850. . 1,900 Cultivated area. 1866.. 895,412 

Cultivated area, 1854.. 15,000 ' Cultivated area. 1867. . 1,092,593 

Cultivated area, 1859.. 345,000 j Cultivated area, 186.« . . 1,387,470 
Cultivated area, I860.. 433.267 Cultivated area, 1869. . 1,690,000 

Cultivated area, 1865 . . 630,000 | 

This exhibits an increase of nearly 900 fold during the 19 years 
ending with 1869. 

But this remarkal:)le growth is shown to have been achieved 
mainly since the giddy reign of wild speculation which was over- 
thrown with the financial crash of 1857. In 1858 grain and nearlv 
all kinds of produce were imported from other States, to feed the 
people, who were universall}- engrossed in unproductive land trades. 
The development of the unreckoned wealth of the soil 1)egan 
earnestly in 1859, when a surplus for export was produced for the 



AGRICULTURE. 



31 



first time. After a lapse of nine years, the general results of 
agriculture for 1868, are officially stated as follows : 



Product. 


Acres Cultivated. 


Bushels Poduced. 


Wheat, 


858,316 


15,381,022 


Oats, 


212,064 - 


7,831,523 


Corn, 


129,909 


4,849,936 


Barlej'', 


18,150 - 


518,500 


Rye, - 


2,713 


52,100 


Potatoes, '- 


24,475 - 


2,592,636 


Buckwheat, 


1,538 


25,292 


Beans, 


1,027 - 


13,371 


"Wool, pounds. 


. 


- 422,500 


Butter, pounds. 


- 


4,475,000 


Cheese, pounds, 


- 


- 166,182 


Hay, tons. 


- 


430,750 


Sorghum, gallons syrup. 


81,375 


Maple Sugar, pounds. 


- 


250,467 


Maple, gallons syrup. 


- 


- 14,105 


Flax, pounds fibre. 


- 


101,237 


Flax, bushels seed. 


. 


3,345 


Tobacco, pounds, 


- 


11,293 


Clover Seed, bushels, 


- 


232 



Miscellaneous Products, value, $230,420. 

The total home value of the above products, at a low estimate, 
was $26,000,000. 

AGRICULTURE AND POPULATION. 

A comparison of the growth of population with the development 
of agriculture, affords the following results : 



Years. 

1860, 


Population. 

172,022 


No. acres 
cultivated. 

433,267 


Tilled area 
per capita. 

2.5 


1865, 


250,099 


630,000 


2.5 


1869, 


450,000 


1,690,000 


3.7 



This statement illustrates the extraordinary fact that from 1860 
to 1865, a period embracing a savage outbreak upon our frontier, 
an exceptional and ruinous drouth of two years' duration, and n 
desolating civil war, the development of agriculture kept even 
pace with the growth of population, while during the subsequent 
peaceful years the progress in agriculture has far outstripped the 
increment of population. 

A comparison of the products of Minnesota with those of Iowa 



32 MINNESOTA. 

and Ohio, as shown by the official returns of each for the year 186&, 
affords the following exhibit of averages : 

"Wheat. Oats. Corn. Barley. Rye. Buckwheat. PotatoeB. 

Minnesota,.* 17.9 36.9 37.3 28.5 19.2 16.4 105.9 

Iowa, 9.95 28.3 37.12 23.07 13.28 9.49 81.01 

Ohio^ 11.31 23.86 34.37 20.38 9.30 10.97 72.12 

Here is certainly food for honest pride in the agricultural capa- 
city of Minnesota — an attestation beyond cavil of her superiority 
in the production of each of seven leading crops over that of two 
noble States, >justly classed, next to ours, as the most productive 
in the Union ! She not only far excels these States in her 
specialty, wheat, but surpasses both in their own specialty, corn. 

WHEAT CULTURE. 

Wheat-growing has been termed the " back-bone of agricul- 
ture." When the vital importance of maintaining and increasing 
the production of a grain so essential to civilized man is consid- 
ered, it cannot be assigned a less conspicuous place in agricultural 
anatomy. Wheat is pre-eminently the food of civilized nations, 
and perhaps there can be no surer measure of their civilization 
than the culture and consumption of that cereal. History affirms 
its ao^cncy in shaping the power and character of nations. They 
have o-rown sturdy and progressive in the ratio of wheat consump- 
tion by all classes. Scientiiic analysis confirms the indications of 
history. Anatomy and chemistry show that food to be best which 
"•ives toughness to muscular fibre, and tone to the brain : that 
nutriment to excel which best rescues the flagging spirits when the 
energies lie prostrate, without maddening stimulants. 

That wheat fulfills all these conditions is not only attested by 
the character and fate of nations, but is susceptible of scientific 
demonstration. The nice adjustment of its vital properties sup- 
ports brain and blood and muscle, in just the proportion requisite 
for the highest type of manhood. Refinement, fortitude and enter- 
prise most distinguish those nations which most consume wheat. 
Beef-eating and wheat-consuming races, at once dominate and 
elevate the rice and pork consumers with whom they come in con- 
tact. En<'-land who has long been the conceded mistress of the seas, 
and whose dependencies well-nigh encircle the globe, has so stim- 
ulated and enlarged her capacity for wheat growing that her annual 
avera^-e is 28 bushels per acre. But her consumption so fi\r 
outruns her production, that she lays the world under contribution 
for her supplies of bread. Russia, who not only feeds her own vast 
population but exports largely to hungry communities abroad, is 



AGRICULTURE. 33 

advancing to an exalted place among nations with a rapidity 
second only to that of the United States. But a more practical 
as well as serious aspect of the subject pertains to those social 
problems connected with supplies of bread. The grave significance 
of the question involved is not susceptible of concealment when 
the fact is considered, that while the consumption of wheat, as the 
choice food of the human race, is rapidlj^ extending, the capacity 
of wheat-growing regions for its production is rapidly diminishing. 

According to the census of 1860, the entire wheat product of 
New England was sufficient to feed her own people only three 
weeks ! that of New York sufficient for her own consumption six 
months ; that of Pennsylvania, after feeding her own people, 
afforded no surplus ; while the surplus of Ohio was but 3,000,000 
bushels for that year, and for the past six years her wheat crop 
has fallen below her own consumption. In the ten years eudino- 
in 1860, the wheat crop of these States decreased 6,500,000 
bushels. 

In the light of these facts the achievements of Minnesota in 
wheat growing, as well as her untaxed capacity for its continued 
and increased production, assume a proud pre-eminence. Her 
crop in 1869 was 18,500,000 bushels, and her surplus not less 
than 14,000,000. Both in the average per acre and in the relative 
magnitude of operations, she leads the sisterhood of States. 
From 1859, in which year wheat occupied 34 per cent, of the whole 
cultivated breadth, there has been a constant absorption of area 
by that grain, so that 1868 witnesses its occupancy of 61.86 per 
-cent, of the total breadth cultivated. 

The following statement shows the total production of wheat 
.and the average per acre for the years designated : 

Years. Bushels produced. Average per acre. 

1859, - - 2,374,415 - . 19. 

l-'^ed, - - 5,101,432 - - 22.05 

1865, . - 9,475,000 - . 22.7 

1866, - - 7,921,442 - - 14.46 

1867, - - 10,014,828 - - 14.64 

1868, - - 15,381,022 - - 17.9 

1869, - - 18,500,000 - . is.5 
From the average of eleven years, ending with 1869, a yield of 

17 bushels per acre may be assumed as the established wheat 
average of Minnesota. Particular^localities, sometimes embracino- 
whole townships, produce frequently an average of 25 and 30 bushels'^ 
while averages exceeding 40 bushels are not unfrequent in favor- 
able seasons in nearly everv county in the State. The laro-est 
5 



34 



MINNESOTA. 



known'j'ield of Ohio, one of the leading wheat States, was 17^ 
bushels per acre, while the average for the twelve years ending in 
18G8, in that State, as officially shown, was but 10.72 bushels per 
acre. In 1859, that State produced an average of 7.^ bushels ; 
Iowa, 4^ bushels ; while Minnesota the same year produced an. 
average of 19 bushels. Illinois, according to high local authority, 
produces from year to year not more than 8 bushels of wheat per 
acre, while only four States, by the census of 1850, reached an 
average of 15 bushels per acre. 

Another striking illustration of the relative position of Minne- 
sota in wheat growing, will be seen in the following comparative 
statement of product to population : 

Bushels wheat to each inhabitant. 

Minnesota, 1868, - - - 40.47 

Iowa, 1868, - - - 17.25 

Ohio, 1860, .... 10.10 

OATS. 

Oats is peculiarly a northern grain. It is onl}- with a compara- 
tively cool atmosphere that this grain attains to the solidit3\ and 
yields the return which remunerate the labor and cost of produc- 
tion. The rare adaptation of the soil and climate of Minnesota to 
the growth of this grain, is shown not onl}' by the large average, 
but superior quality of the product, the oats of this State being 
heavier by from three to five pounds per bushel than that produced 
elsewhere. 

The following is an exhibit of the result for the several years 
named : 

Average yield 
per acre. 

42.39 

23.32 

34.54 

36.9 

43. 

The following is a statement of the product of oats in j\Iinne- 
sota, compared with that in the other States named : 







No. bushels 


Years. 


No. acres eovm. 


produced. 


1860, 


68,714 


2,912,857 


1866, 


187,023 


4,372,477 


1867, 


162,722 


5,620,895 


1868, 


212,064 


7,831,523 


1869, 


286,286 


12,310,298 



Average 
per acre. 

23. 



Ohio, average of 1 1 years, 

Iowa, 1868, 28.3 

Minnesota, 1868, • 36.9 



Years. 

1859 
1868 
1868 



Bushels to 
each inhabitant. 

6.3 
17.8 
20.6 



CORN. 



The foregoing exhibits abundantly sustain the extraordinary 



AGRICULTURE. 35 

capacity of Minnesota for the production of those cereals which 
are best produced in high latitudes. Our State is often supposed 
to be too far north for corn. This is a great mistake, founded on 
the popular fallacy that the latitude governs climate. But climates 
grow warmer towards the west coasts of continents, and although its 
winters are cold, the summers of Minnesota are as warm as those 
of Southern Ohio. The mean summer heat of St. Paul is precisely 
that of Philadelphia, five degrees further south, while it is con- 
siderably warmer during the whole six months of the growino- 
season than Chicago, three degrees further south. The products 
of the soil confirm these meteorological indications. 

The average yield of corn in 1860 was 35f bushels per acre, and 
in 1859— a bad year— 26 bushels. By comparison, in the latter 
year, Iowa produced but 22^ bushels per acre, and Ohio, the Queen 
of the corn States, but 29 bushels. In Illinois— of which corn is 
the chief staple— Mr. Lincoln, late President of the United States, 
in the course of an agricultural address in 1859, stated that " the 
average crop from year to year does not exceed 20 bushels per 
acre." 

These results, so favorable to Minnesota as a corn growino- as 
well as wheat growing State, will surprise no one who is familiar 
with the fact established by climatologists, that " the cultivated 
plants yield the greatest products near the northermost limits at 
which they will grow." 

The following shows the corn product of Minnesota for the years 
named : 

■Area. Bushels. Average. 

1859, . • - 117,500 3,073,749 26.16 

1860, - 80,782 3,143,577 35.67 

1866, - - 88,183 2,056,747 23.32 

1867, - 100,648 3,216,010 31.95 

1868, - - 129,909 4,849,936 37.33 

COMPARISON WITH OTHER STATES. 

A comparison with other States aflbrds the following exhibit : 

Bushels per acre. 

Ohio, average of nineteen years, - - 32.8 

Iowa, average of six years, - - 31.97 

Minnesota, average of seven years, - 30.17 

In order to insure the fairness of this comparison, a just 
annual average is given, embracing such years as include both 
the highest and lowest known yield in each State named. The 
result is certainly a refutation of the notion that Minnesota 



36 MINNESOTA. 

is exclusively a wheat State, lying too far north for corn. She 
suffers little by this comparison with two of the representative 
corn States of the Union, and should suffer still less when it 
is remembered that the newer and more rapidly growing a State 
is, the larger is the proportion of corn planted by the newly- 
arrived settlers directly on the sod, in the rudest manner and 
without culture, from which process little more than a third of 
an average crop is ever expected. The average of the whole is 
thus reduced. With thorough cultivation, crops of 50 to 60 bush- 
els per acre are obtained, while a yield of 75 to 80 bushels is not 
an unusual occurrence. 

BARLEY. 

The following shows the 3'ield of barley for several years in 
Minnesota : 

Acres. BusbeU. Avtirage. 

1860, - - 9,073 301,539 33.23 

1867, - 11,862 316,715 26.7 

1868, - - 18,150 518,500 28.5 

1869, - 25,410 813,120 32.0 

The average product compares with other States as follows : 

Bushels per acre. 

Minnesota, average of four years, - 30.10 

Iowa, average of three years, - - 22.11 

Ohio, average of nine years, - - 19.29 

RYE AND BUCKWHEAT. 

These crops are produced in great abundance and of the best 
quality in this State, but the far greater facility and profit with 
which more valuable products are grown, have caused a contraction 
of the area formerly assigned to their culture. The average pro- 
duct in this and other States will be seen in the following compa- 
rative statement : 

Rye. Buckwhc."-!. 

\ Minnesota, - 19.2 16.4 

Iowa, - - 13.28 9.49 

Ohio, - - 10.43 10.97 

POTATOES. 

The well-known principle established by climatologists that 
" cultivated plants yield their greatest and best products near the 
northcrmost limits of their growth," applies with peculiar force to 
the production of potatoes. The mealy quality, the snowy white- 
ness, the farinaceous properties, and the exquisite flavor which 



AGRICULTURE. 37 

distinguish the best article, reach perfection only in high latitudes. 
The potatoes grown in Minnesota are well known to be unsurpassed 
in all the qualities named, while their prolific yield is not less 
remarkable. A product of 250 and 300 bushels per acre is fre- 
quently obtained, while 400 and even 500 bushels have been pro- 
duced under favorable circumstances. The average yield in Minne- 
sota and other States is here shown : 

BushelB per acre. 

Minnesota, average for five years, - 120.76 

Iowa, average for five years, - - 76.73 

Ohio, average for nine years, - - 74.55 

STOCK ANDi WOOL GROWING. 

The cost of transportation which absorbs much of the profit of 
wheat culture in localities distant from the market, is forciue 
attention to the peculiar advantages of Minnesota for stock raising 
and wool growing. Prominent among these are : 1. The rich- 
ness and luxuriance of the native grasses. The statistics of the 
hay crop of 1860 show a total product of 300,000 tons, with an 
average of over two tons per acre, being sixty per cent, more than 
the average of Ohio. The grass is mainly cut on the meadows 
which everywhere checker the rolling prairies or fringe the count- 
less streams and lakes. 2. The great extent of unoccupied land, 
affording for many years to come a wide range of free pasturage. 
3. The remarkable dryness and healthfulness of the winter. The 
sleet, slush, mud, and the train of diseases which the damp and 
variable winters of Eastern or Southern climates inflict upon ani- 
mals and men, are here nearly unknown. The cold, dry air sharpens 
the appetite, and promotes a rapid secretion of fat, and a vigorous 
muscular development. The wool grows finer and heavier, and 
mutton, beef, and pork sweeter and more juicy. The effect of 
climate and the rich herbage is seen in the 

DAIRY PRODUCTS. 

In the census year 1860, over 3,000,000 pounds of butter and 
cheese were made from 38,938 cows, or 77.6 pounds per head, 
against 52 pounds per head in Iowa, 46.8 in Illinois, and 62 in 
Wisconsin. 

The amount of hay, wool, and dairy products for 1868, was as 
follows : 

Hay, tons, .... 430,750 

Wool, pounds, .... 422,500 
Butter, pounds, -"^ - - 4,475,000 

Cheese, pounds, - - - 166,182 



38 MINNESOTA. 

OTHER PRODUCTS. 

Beans, flax, tobacco, hops, hemp, sorghum, maple sugar, beets, 
cabbages, pumpkins, peas, lettuce, and all kinds of garden vege- 
tables are grown in great abundance, while the exquisite flavor 
and fresh crispuess of all table esculents grown in the quick 
black soil of Minnesota is a subject of universal remark. 

Lm; siocK. 

The number of the difierent kinds of live stock in the State for 
the years 1860 and 1869 is here shown : 

1S60. 1809. 

Horses, - - 16,879 98,980 

Cattle, - - 106,009 275,977 

Mules and Asses, - 384 2,450 

Sheep, - - 12,595 135,450 

Hogs, - - - 104,497 109,000 

— which were giltogether valued at $15,561,887, for the latter 
year. 

FRUIT. 

Nearly all the varieties of" small fruits," native and cultivated, 
thrive well in Minnesota. 

Gooseberries, cranberries, whortleberries, blackberries, straw- 
berries, black and red currants, and raspberries, of excellent 
qualitj', are abundant. The wild grape is found in sheltered local- 
ities, and the cultivated varieties common in the Northern States, 
ripen perfectly. The wild crab is common. The native plum is a 
fruit of much value, not onh' because some of its sub-varieties are 
free from astringency, and are desirable as dessert fruit, but that 
also there is a marked improvement in size and quality, under ju- 
dicious cultivation. 

APPLES. 

It cannot be denied, that until the last two years, the question of 
raising apples successfully in this State was one of serious doubt. 
The great majority of the earliest efforts to produce them proved 
failures. But it is believed that our experience is but a repetition 
of that of other States in this respect. There is, indeed, a singular 
uniformity in the results of attempted fruit culture in all new 
countries, the first efforts having been unsuccessful with scarcely 
an exception. Michigan is to-day the leading fruit State of the 
Union, yet it is but a few years since there was scarcely less doubt 
of the issue of her experimental apple culture than has heretofore 



AGRICULTURE. 39 

prevailed as to such result in Minnesota. It is not surprising that 
in an entirely new field, in a different climate, and with new con- 
ditions, the expectations of those bringing here only the trees and 
experiences of their original homes, should be disappointed. Each 
new State has been obliged to begin at the beginning, raise new 
varieties, and make such selections as time and multiform expe- 
rience proved adapted to its soil and climate. 

Minnesota is just emerging from this transitional experience. 
The great abundance and varieties of apples exhibited at the 
various county fairs in 1869, have at length settled the question. 
Along the entire extent of the bold, bluffy country bordering the 
Mississippi River, numerous orchards have hastened forward into 
bearing condition and brought their gladdening reward to justify 
the faith of their cultivators. A fair proportion of the residents 
of the river towns of Red Wing, Lake City, Wabasha and Wino- 
na, are, in the winter of 1869-70, eating daily and plenteously, 
apples of Minnesota growth. Lieut. Gov. Yale laid in a winter 
supply of superb apples last fall which were grown in the orchards 
in the western vicinitj^ of Winona, and a considerable proportion, 
perhaps one-fourth, of the residents of that city are this winter 
consuming Minnesota apples exclusively. Orchards bearing from 
75 to 200 bushels each are comparatively frequent. The names of 
at least 20 farmers in Winona count}' are known who produced 
each over 100 bushels of apples this year. Nor are these of infe- 
rior growth or limited to a few varieties. One fruit grower pro- 
duced 24 well developed varieties, a specimen of one of which 
weighed 14 ounces. The estimates of the best informed, place 
the yield of Winona county alone, in 1869, at between 3,000 and 
4,000 bushels. From facts obtained from various sources entitled 
to credit, it is estimated that the total product of apples produced 
in the counties of Fillmore, Houston, Winona, Wabasha and Good- 
hue, in 1869, will reach 15,000 bushels. From the accumulating 
facts tending to the same conclusion, there is little doubt, that the 
prediction of Gov. Marshall, made in the course of his remarks be- 
fore the Ramsey County Agricultural Society, that in less than ten 
years Minnesota will be an apple exporting State, will be justified 
by results. 

In view of the remarkable success with which apples are pro- 
duced in Maine, Canada, and the coldest countries of Europe, it is 
absurd to suppose there need be any apprehension of failure from 
mere cold weather in Minnesota. Besides, wheat and apples have 
always kept company as civilizers of mankind. As Minnesota 
vastly excels in producing the fli'st, it is not unreasonable to 
■expect she may the second. 



40 MINNESOTA. 

MANUFACTURES. 

Mr. Wlieelock, former Commissioner of Statistics, a geatleman 
thoroughly conversant with the subject, makes the following just 
statement of the extraordinary manufacturing facilities which na- 
ture has lavished upon this favored State : 

" 1. Minnesota possesses a more ample and effective water power than 
New England. The falls and rapids of St. Anthony alone, with a total 
descent of 64 feet, affords an available hydraulic capacity, according to an 
experienced and competent engineer, of 120,000 horse power. This is 
considerably greater than the whole motive power — steara and water — 
employed in textile manufactures in England in 1850, and nearly seven 
times as great as the water power so employed. 

" That is to say, the available power created by this magnificent water- 
fall, is more than sufficient to drive all the 25,000,000 spindles and 4,000 
mills of England and Scotland combined. The entire machinery of the 
English Manchester and the American Lowell, if they could be trans- 
planted here, would scarcely press upon its immense hydraulic capabili- 
ties. But as compared with those great industrial centres, the Falls of 
St. Anthony possess one decisive advantage, which is to a great extent 
illustrative of the functions of the State as a commercial and manufactur- 
ing emporium, this splendid cataract forms the terminus of continuous 
navigation on the Mississippi ; and the same waters which lavish on the 
broken ledges of limestone a strength almost sufficient to weave the gar- 
ments of the world, may gather the products of its mills almost at their 
very doors and distribute them to every part of the great valley of the 
Mississippi. 

"The St. Croix Falls, which are only second to St. Anthony Falls in 
hydraulic power, are similarly, though somewhat less advantageously 
situated at the head of navigation upon a tributary of the Mississippi. 
Except the Minnesota, nearly every tributary of the Mississippi, in its 
rapid and broken descent to the main stream, affords valuable mill sites. 
The Mississippi itself in its descent from its Itasca summit to Fort Snell- 
ing, in which it falls 836 feet, or over 16 inches per mile, is characterized 
by long steps of slack water, broken at long intervals by abrupt transitions 
in the character of the rocks which forms its bed, and formiag a fine series 
of falls and rapids available for liydraulic works. Pokegoraa Falls, Little 
Falls, Sauk Rapids, and St. Anthony Falls, are the chief of these. But 
the Elk, Kum, St. Croix, and numberless smaller streams on the east 
slope of the Mississippi, the Sauk, Crow, Vermillion, Cannon, Zumbro, 
Minneiska, Root, and their branches, nearly all the tributaries of the 
Minnesota, and a multitude of streams besides, in their abrupt descent 
over broken beds of limestone or sandstone, through long and winding 
valleys or ravines, with a fall of from three to eight feet per mile, afford 
an unlimited abundance of available water power to nearly every county 
in the State. This diffusion of hj'draulic power throughout the whole 
State, is a feature whose value as an element of development, can scarcely 
be over estimated, as it gives to every neighborhood the means of manu- 
facturing its own flour and lumber, and affords the basis of all those num- 



MANUFACTURES. 41 

erous local manufactures which enter into the industrial economy of every 
northern community. 

"2. Passing to the second point of comparison with New-England, 
already incidentally touched upon, the commercial position of Minnesota 
upon the termini of the three great water lines of the continent, not only 
gives it an immensely wider capacity of interior trade, but a far easier 
access to the sources of supply of raw material. A region six times as 
large as all New-England, as yet undeveloped, but already starting on the 
swift career of Western growth, and capable of supporting many millions 
of population, is directly dependent upon Minnesota for all the manu- 
factured commodities it may consume. Its position relative to these 
Northwestern valleys, invests its manufacturing capabilities with an im- 
portance greater than those of any other of the interior districts of the 
continent. For the future manufacture of cotton and woolen fabrics, it 
has decided advantages of position over New-England. The Mississippi 
Eiver brings it into intimate relations with the sources of the cotton sup- 
ply, and it lies in the midst of the great wool zone of the continent." 

Although not a tithe of these resources is yet developed, no in- 
considerable progress has already been made in manufacturing 
industry. The following is a comparative statement of the num- 
ber of manufactories and value of the product for the years 1860 
and 1869, respectfully : 

No, of establishments. Value of annual product. 

1860, - - 511 $4,295,208 

1869, - - - 1,650 14,831,043 

The relative progress of the State in agriculture, population and 
manufactures, in nine years, is thus shown : 

Increase of cultivated area, - - 290 per cent. 

Increase in population, - - - 173 " 

Increase in value of manufactures, - - 245 " 

Minnesota has outstripped all the other States both in agricul- 
tural development and growth of population, and here is afforded 
the gratifying evidence that her progress in manufacturing industry 
has been even greater than the last, and approaches her astonish- 
ing advance in agriculture. The water power, mineral and agri- 
cultural resources, commercial advantages, and the enterprising 
character of the northern peoples by whom the State is settled, all 
indicate that Minnesota is soon to become conspicuous as a manu- 
facturing State. 

LOGS AND LUMBER. 

As before observed, the head waters of the tributaries of the 
Mississippi and St. Croix rivers, are clothed with vast forests of 
pine timber. The entire valley of the Mississippi, stretching to 
6 



4 2 MINNESOTA. 

the Gulf of Mexico, and a vast extent of treeless countrj' west- 
ward, are dependent upon these forests for their lumber- The 
annual cutting of logs and manufacture of lumber, constitute 
therefore an important branch of industry in Minnesota, affording 
an extensive field for the emploj'ment of men and capital. 

The following shows the extent of lumbering operations on the 
two rivers and tributaries for 1869 : 

IstDist. (St. Croix) No. feet of logs scaled, - 158,382,454 
2nd Dist. (Mississippi) No. feet of logs scaled, 92,709,030 



Total, ..... 251,091,484 

Value of logs and lumber manufactured in first 

district for 1869, - ... . $1,260,000.00 

Value of logs and lumber manufactured in second 

district for 1869, - - . . 1,390,635.45 



Total for two districts only, - . $2,650,635.45 



COMMERCE 



The commercial position of Minnesota is perhaps the grandest 
among the States. Occupying the exact centre of this con- 
tinent and constituting the water shed of its eastern half, 
the steam navigation of three great internal water systems termi- 
nates here, viz. : The Mississippi River, northward from the Gulf 
of Mexico ; the Red River of the North, southward from Hudson's 
Ba}' ; and the St. Lawrence River and chain of great lakes, west- 
ward from the Atlantic Ocean. Minnesota is thus the focus of 
three cardinal radii of avast commercial system ; the fourth radius, 
connecting her with the Pacific Ocean, will be supplied bj-^ the 
Northern Pacific Railroad, the construction of which is already 
commenced under circumstances which ensure its early completion, 
pushed forward as it is b}- the ablest capalists in the world. This 
road, constructed directly through our State, will be the shortest 
thoroughfare between Asia and Europe, and place Minnesota in 
the highwa}' of the world's traffic. Here the whole tratle of those 
converging water lines will break bulk, and constitute this State the 
entrepot and distributing theatre of a commerce whose extent and 
wealth it is difficult to over estimate. The completion of the St. 
Paul and Sioux City Railroad, now being constructed, will also 
place Minnesota in advantageous connection with the Union Pacific 
Railroad. 



NAVIGATION. 43 

The interior water system and the great lakes will qnickly be 
connected by a railroad from the head of navigation at St. Paul to 
the head of Lake Superior. This road will be completed during 
1870, and will afford a new and invaluable outlet for the multiply- 
ing products of the State. The head of Lake Superior, while 
practicall}^ as near the seaboard as Chicago, at the head of Lake 
Michigan, has the advantage of being nearly 300 miles nearer the 
heart of those western areas whose exhaustless resources feed the 
vast commerce of those lakes. 'By this short cut our trade may avoid 
the circuitous and expensive route via Milwaukee and Chicago, 
the necessity of employing which has heretofore stripped us of our 
great natural advantages and made our position as much worse 
than that of intervening States, as it is more remote than they. 
But the end of these disabilities is at hand. Minnesota will 
speedily have the choice of the many diverging and converging 
channels of communication to which lavish nature and commercial 
sagacity justly entitle her. 

The completion of the contemplated improvement of navigation 
of the Wisconsin and Fox rivers, which will make a continuous 
water path from the Mississippi River to Lake Michigan, will add 
another to the great routes which give to Minnesota her proud 
commercial position. 

Hon. Wm. H. Seward, in a speech delivered at St. Paul in 1860, 
used the following striking language. 

" Here is the place — the central place — where the agriculture of the 
richest region of North America must pour out its tributes to the whole 
world. On the east, all along the shore of Lake Superior, and west, 
stretching in one broad plain in a belt quite across the continent, is a 
country Miiere State after State is yet to arise, and where the productions 
for the support of human society in other old, crowded States must be 
brought forth. * * * 

"I now believe that the ultimate last seat of government on this great 
continent will be found somewhere within a circle or radius not verj' far 
from the spot on which I stand, at the head of navigation on the Missis- 
sippi River." 

NAVIGATION. 

The average length of the season of navigation on the Mississippi 
River and tributaries for a period of 26 years has been 226.42 
days or 7^ months. The average number of steamboat arrivals at 
St. Paul for ten years was 821. The force of men and boats em- 
ployed in navigation for the season of 1869, comprised a fleet of 
62 steamers and 156 barges, with a total carrying capacity of 
48,580 tons, operated by 1,703 men. With these 450,000 tons of 
freight and 255,800 passengers were carried, which comprised 



44 MINXBSOTA. 

somewhat less than the average amount of river business done for 
several years. This is acounted for partially by the recent de- 
pression of the wheat market causing farmers to hold back their 
crops and partly by the competition of the railroads. The above 
does not include navigation on other rivers, nor a rapidly increas- 
ing commerce on Lake Superior, upon which Minnesota has a shore 
line of 160 miles. 

RAILROADS. 

In 1857 Congress made a grant of lands in aid of a magnificent 
railroad system in this State. Half the land for six miles on each 
side of the proposed route of six extensive railroads was granted 
to the State in trust to be regranted to certain railroad companies 
in parcels on the completion of sections of the roads. After 
various hinderances arising from the financial crash of 1857 and 
other causes, the fii'st mile was finally completed in 1862. To 
show at a glance the progress since achieved, it will sufBce to sa}', 
that at the close of 1869 there were 750 miles completed and in 
operation, with 600 more under construction, and 2,000 miles ad- 
ditional projected — involving an aggregate actual capital of 
§23,550,398, operated by a force of 2,250 men — that their united 
earnings for 1869 were $2,653,630.07 — their expenses $1,590,- 
862.01 ; and that during the j-ear they transported 677,684 tons 
of freight, and cairied 478,973 passengers. 

These railroads, as now located and constructed, are described 
as follows : 

1st. The Southern Minnesota Railroad, running from the Mis- 
sissippi River up the valle}' of Root River, in a due westerly 
direction, through the southern tier of counties in this State, 
piercing a country of great fertility its entire length. It is com- 
pleted continuously 50 miles westward, from its eastern terminus 
to Lancsboro, and also a distance of 40 miles westw ard from its 
junction with the Milwaukee and St. Paul Railway, leaving a gap 
of 50 miles of uncompleted road between the points named. 

2nd. The Winona and St. Peter Railroad, running from Winona 
westward, through an excellent and well-cultivated country, to 
the Minnesota River, and projected to the western boundary of 
the State. This road is completed to Janesville — 116 miles — and 
will be finished to Mankato and St. Peter probably during 1870. 

3rd. The St. Paul and Pacific Railroad, running from St. Paul 
to Breckenridge, on the Red River of the North, with a branch 
from St. Anthony, up the Mississippi River, to Sauk Rapids. Of 
the main line 103 miles are completed to Morris, in Stevens 



RAILROADS. 45 

Couut3% to be completed to Breckenridge during the present 
year. This road runs through an extremely rich and beautiful 
countr3^ The branch road is completed 78 miles to Sauk Rapids, 
and will be pushed forward to comiect with the Northern Pacific 
Railroad. 

4th. The Milwaukee and St. Paul Railway, starting from Min- 
neapolis and St. Paul, uniting at Mendota, and running south- 
wardly a continuous line to Milwaukee, 134 miles of the route 
being in Minnesota. This road is completed, affording at present 
the only all-rail route to the East. It runs through the heart of 
what is known as " Southern Minnesota," and is intersected by 
the Hastings and Dakota road at Farmingtou, by the Winona and 
St. Peter road at Owatouna, by the Southern Minnesota road at 
Ramsey, and by the Minnesota Central Railroad at Austin. 

5th. The St. Paul and Sioux City Railroad, running from St. 
Paul up the charming and fertile valley of the Minnesota River, 
as far as its " gi-eat bend," and continuing south- west waz'dly to 
Sioux City, there to meet the northern terminus of the Union 
Pacific Railroad. This road is completed to Crystal Lake, a 
distance of 100 miles, and is speedily to be pushed to completion. 

Subsequently to the Congressional land grant in aid of the 
above-named roads, other roads were started and aided by o-rants 
of laud. These are — 

The Lake Superior and Mississippi Railroad, from St. Paul to 
the head of Lake Superior, connecting the waters of the Missis- 
sippi with those of the great lakes. This road traverses a country 
rich in lumber and minerals. It is completed 77 miles, half the 
route, and is expected to be finished in time to transport the crops 
of 1870 by their new transit to the seaboard, via the great lakes. 

The St. Paul and Chicago Railway, following the Mississippi 
River south-eastward to Winona, there to make connection with a 
road to Chicago. This road is completed to Hastings, 20 miles, 
and is under contract as far as Red Wing. 

The Hastings and Dakota Railroad, from Hastings, on the Mis- 
sissippi River, westward to the foot of Big Stone Lake, on the 
western boundary of the State, penetrating an excellent farming 
country. It is completed 30 miles at its eastern terminus. 

Minnesota Central Railroad, completed 12 miles from Austin, 
southward, to the Iowa line, where it is to join a road now beino- 
constructed in Iowa. 

These roads were completed or in progress at the close of 1869. 



46 MTN'XESOTA. 

NORTHERN PACIFIC RAILROAD. 

On the 15th of February, 1870, work was commenced on the 
Northern Pacific Railroad, at the Dalles of the St. Louis River. 
Large supplies of provisions have been stationed at various points 
along the projected route, and the work is to be pushed forward 
with all possible dispatch, under the auspices and with the aid of 
leading public men and heavy capitalists of America and Europe. 

PROJECTED RAILROADS. 

In addition to the roads completed or in actual progress, the 
following are projected, some of which will doubtless be com- 
menced at an early day. 

A road from St. Paul, eastward, to the St. Croix, opposite 
Hudson, Wis., to connect with the Tomah or West Wisconsin 
road, now in rapid process of construction towards St. Paul. 

A road from Stillwater to connect with the Lake Superior and 
Mississippi Railroad, north of AVhite Bear Lake. 

A road from AVhite Bear Lake, via St. Anthony and Minne- 
apolis, to a point of junction with the St. Paul and Sioux City 
Railroad, thence to the Iowa State line, with various branches. 

A road from St. Cloud, to run, via Sauk Centre and Alexandria, 
to the Red River of the North. 

An extension of the St. Paul and Pacific Railroad, down the 
Red River Valley, to the northern boundary of the State. 

A road from some point on branch line of the St. Paul and 
Pacific Railroad, to Princeton, in Mille Lacs County. 

A road from Brownsville, on the Mississippi River, via Cale- 
donia, to the Iowa State line. 

A road from Chatfield, in Fillmore Count}-, to the Iowa State 
line. 

A road from Owatonna, via Albert Lea, to the south line of 
the State, there to connect with a road now in progress north- 
ward through Iowa. 

A road from St. Paul, via Stillwater, to Taylor's Falls, on the 
St. Croix River. 

A road from Lanesboro, Fillmore County, via Chatfield, 
Rochester, and Cannon Falls, to St. Paul, passing through the 
counties of Olmsted, Wabasha, Goodhue and Dakota. 

A road from Lanesboro to the southern boundary of the State. 

A road from the Mississippi River, starting at the city of Red 
Wing, thence via Cannon Falls arid Faribault, to Blue Earth City. 

A road from Wabasha, at foot of Lake Pepin, on the Missis- 



EDUCATION. 47 

sippi River, via Plainview, Rochester and Lansing, to Omaha, with 
a branch via Faribault to St. Peter. 

A road from Minneapolis, up the west side of the Mississippi 
River, via Dayton, Monticello and Clear Water, to St. Cloud, 
thence up Sauk Valley, via Sauk Centre, to Alexandria, Douglas 
County. 

An "Air and Hour Line Road " from St. Paul to Minneapolis 
and St. Anthony. 

A road from Mankato, via Blue Earth City, to the Iowa line, 
thence to connect with the Keokuk and Fort Des Moines Railroad. 

A road from Taylor's Falls, on the St, Croix, to connect with 
the Mississippi River and Lake Superior Railroad. 

A road from Mankato, via St. Cloud, to the north line of the 
State. 

A road from the western State boundary, via Mankato and 
Albert Lea, to intersect a road from Iowa, up the valley of 
Turkey River. 

EXPORTS. 

There were exported from the several railroad stations and 
shipping ports throughout the State during 1869, 10,463,512 
bushels of wheat, and 460,101 barrels of flour, or, reducing the 
flour to wheat, a grand total of 12,764,017 bushels of wheat. This, 
be it remembered, from a State which eleven years before imported 
its wheat and flour ! 



EDUCATION 



No State enjoys more munificent provision for the education of 
her people than Minnesota. Very early steps were taken in be- 
half of several important measures for its promotion. 

UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA. 

The Legislatui'e of 1851 provided for the establishment of the 
University of Minnesota, which Congress aided by a generous do- 
nation of lands. 

In October, 1854, a beautiful wooded eminence, commanding a 
view of the Falls of St. Anthony and of the surrounding country, 
was selected as the site, and a portion of an imposing edifice was 
begun. After many struggles, the institution is now in full opera- 
tion, with a classical, agricultural and military department, the 
total attendance being 230 students. 



48 MINNESOTA. 

NORMAL SCHOOLS. 

Three normal schools are in operation, viz. : The first at "Wi- 
nona, second at Mankato, and third at St. Cloud. At these there 
were at the close of 18G9 a total of 373 students in the normal 
department and 444 in the model schools. A. noble edifice has 
been erected by the State for the use of the first named school, 
and a building is partially completed at Maukato for the second 
normal school. 

COMMON SCHOOLS. 

An excellent system for the free education of all the children in 
the State is in successful operation in Minnesota. At the first 
session of the Territorial Legislature, in 1849, a law was enacted 
for the establishment of common schools. A partial organization 
of the system was effected the following 3'ear, and in 1851 a 
superintendent of common schools was appointed. In order to 
exhibit at a single glance the prodigious development of the 
common school system during the intervening 18 years, the few 
items embraced in the first school report in 1851 are contrasted 
below with the corresponding results for 1869. 

1S51. 1669. 

Whole number of school districts, - - 13 2,521 

Whole number of school houses, - - 5 1,929 

Aggregate value of school houses, - - S2,500 $1,339,690 

Whole number of scholars, - - - 250 102,086 

The system was re-organized in 1862. A new law was that 
year enacted for the better regulation and support of common 
schools which, in its essential features, is still in force. The pro- 
gress and present condition of the common schools of Minnesota 
will be seen by the following statement for 1863 and 1869 re- 
spectively : 

"Whole number of school districts, - 
AVhole number of districts reported, 
Number of districts not reported, - 
Whole number persons between 5 and 

21 years old, ... 

Whole number scholars in attendance 
Per cent, of non-attendance. 
Whole number of teachers. 
Whole amount paid teachers, 
Whole number of school houses, 
Total value of school houses, - $160,591.32 $1,339,690.88 



1863. 


1869. 


1,685 


2,521 


1,254 


2,377 


431 


144 


64,819 


144,414 


38,677 


102,086 


40 


29.3 


1,636 


3,775 


73,308.61 


$360,697.50 


880 


1.929 



POPDLATION. 49 

It will be remembered that these schools are perfectly free to 
the children of rich and poor alike, who meet upon terms of per- 
fect equality and receive the blessings of education " without 
money and without price," pupils receiving marks of distr»ction 
only upon superior behavior and scholarly achievements. 

A land endowment of two sections in each township, making 
one-eighteenth of the entire area of the State, has been set apart 
for the support of common schools. It is estimated that these 
lands will amount to nearly 2,900,000 acres. Of this immense 
domain, but 363,100 acres, or a little over one-eighth, have been 
sold, and already there is accumulated a fund of $2,371,199.31, 
which is exceeded by that of only four other States, three of these 
being the old States of New York, Massachusetts, and Ohio. 

The principle arising from the sale of school lands in this State 
is guarded by constitution guaranty against diminution, and 
secured as a permanent fund, the interest of which, with proceeds 
of annual sales of grass and stumpage, constitutes the general or 
current school fund for semi-annual distribution. These proceeds, 
with an annual levy of a two mill tax, afford present support to 
the common schools of the State. If the residue of school lands 
shall be sold at prices equal to those heretofore obtained, the per- 
manent school fund of the State will exceed $17,000,000. 

Here is a generous bequest to coming generations in aid of that 
wide-spread education of the masses upon which must rest the 
diu-able structure of free government. 



POPULATION. 



The marvellous growth of population in Minnesota has been 
exceeded only by the advance of the State in agricultural de- 
velopment and manufacturing industry. When the Territory was 
organized in 1849 the population was 4,057. At the close of 1869 
—20 years later— it was 470,000 ! 

The following table will iUustrate the total and relative increase, 
from the fii'st Territorial organization : 



Year. 


Population. 


Absolute Increase. 


Percentage of 
Annual increase, 


1849 - 


- 4,057 






1850 


5,350 


1,293 


31.6 


1855 (estimated) 

7 


- 50,000 


44,650 


166.9 



50 





MINNESOTA. 






Year. 


Population. 


Absolute Increase. 


Percentage of 
Annual Increase. 


1857 


150,037 




100,037 


100.0 


1860 - 


- 172,022 




21,985 


14.9 


1865 


250,099 




78,077 


9.0 


1870 (estimated) 


- 470,000 




219,901 


19.18 



COMPARISON WITH OTUKR STATES. 

The following is a comparison of the growth in population be- 
tween Minnesota and Iowa, since June 1, 1865 : 

Ratio of Annual 
Increase. 

Iowa, increase in four years to June 1, 1869, - 286,120 9.48 
Minnesota, increase in four years seven months, 

to January 1, 1870, - - - -219,901 19.18 

— showing a relative increase in Minnesota more than twice as 
rapid as in Iowa. 

The following is a comparison of the advance in population of 
the seven most flourishaig States, during the greatest periods of 
their growth respectively : 

Rate per cent, of Increase. 

Ohio, - - - from 1800 to 1810 408 

Illinois, - - from 1810 to 1820 350 

Indiana, - - from 1810 to 1820 510 

Michigan, - - from 1830 to 1840 575 

Iowa, - - - from 1840 to 1850 347 

Wisconsin, - - from 1840 to 1850 891 

Minnesota, - - from 1850 to 1860 3,127 

These figures, calculated in each case from the United States 
census returns, show Minnesota to have grown thi'ee and a half 
times as fast, during the time of her greatest advance, as the 
most rai)idly growing State of the Union in the most rapid period 
of its growth. 

The following table exhibits the comparative increase of the 
four northwestern States during what was probablj^ the period of 
their slowest growth respectively : 

Illinois, 
"Wisconsin, 
Iowa, - 
Minnesota, 

Favorable as is this showing for Minnesota, the comparison is 
nevertheless unfair towards this State, from the fact that of the 
three great hindrances to immigration during this period, viz. : the 









Ratio of 


18i)0. 


1S65. 


Actual Increase. 


Increase. 


- 1,701,740 


2,163,000 


461,260 


•27.1 


775,873 


868,937 


93,064 


11.9 


- 674,948 


754,699 


79,784 


11.8 


172,022 


250,099 


78,077 


45.3 



POPULATION. 51 

•civil war, the prolonged drouth of 1863-4, and .the Indian out- 
break, all of which operated in full force here, only the first was 
felt with equal force in the other States, the second affected them 
■comparatively little, and the third none at all, except as it 
banished to them the refugees from the bloody massacre on our 
frontier. 

CHAKACTER OF THE POPULATION. 

It is estimated that of the 470,000 inhabitants of Minnesota 
.about 260,000 are of American ancestry, and 210,000 foreign 
born, probably in about the following proportions : 

From the several German States, - - . 90,000 

Scandinavians, ----- 65,000 

Irish, - - . - - - - - 45,000 

Other countries, - - - - - 10,000 



210,000 

The Western people generally are noted for a certain generosit}' 
of disposition and breadth of view favorable to liberality and 
tolerance in all matters of business, and of difference in religious 
and moral sentiments. People of all nationalities here mingle 
freely in the various relations of life, from which results an attri- 
tion preventing the growth of narrow provincialism. It is usually 
to a certain extent the extremes of Eastern society that emigrate 
to the West. Of a farmer's boys, the dull son remains upon the 
old homestead, while the more ambitious push for a wider field of 
enterprise. Hence, also the more daring and reckless, who have 
failed in business, come West for a new start in an untried field. 
With these are apt to come some unprincipled and lawless persons. 
There is a class of comfortable middle-aged men, who act as 
ballast in society, and who are never known to do anything good 
nor bad, who do not come West. They furnish a community its 
inertia, and occupy themselves principally in suggesting difficul- 
ties. In times past these persons might have served a purpose, 
when we were disposed to go too fast. But we outgrow the 
necessity for them as we learn wisdom from our own experience. 
In Minnesota, it maybe claimed, is that desirable society generally 
which is compounded of the higher tone of the East, with the 
more generous and enterprising characteristics of the West. Our 
State is largely peopled by settlers from New York, and New 
England, who bring hither the colonizing agencies of school, press 
and church, which flourish gloriously in the prolific soil and in- 
vigorating air of Minnesota. 



52 MINNESOTA. 



POLITICAL AND SOCIAL INSTITUTIONS. 

GOVERNMENT. 

Minnesota has a republican form of government similar to that 
of the other States of the Union, divided into thi-ee distinct de- 
partments : Legislative, Executive, and Judicial. The Legislative 
consists of a Senate and House of Representatives. Its sessions 
are annual, commencing on the first Tuesday of January, and 
limited to sixty days. 

The Executive department consists of a Governor and Lieu- 
tenant Governor, a Secretary of State, Auditor, Treasm-er, and 
Attorney-General, elected by a plurality vote of the people. 

The Judicial power is vested in a Supreme Court, District 
Coiu'ts, Courts of Probate, and Justices of the Peace, which are 
also elected by the people. 

The State Constitution secui'es to the citizen by naturalization, 
equal civil rights and immunities with the citizen native born. No 
property qualifications are required for the elective franchise ; and 
" persons of foreign birth, who shall have declared theii* intention 
to become citizens, conformably to the laws of the United States 
upon the subject of naturalization, and who shall have resided in 
the United States one year, and in this State for four months next 
preceding any election," enjo}' this privilege, in common with the 
native born or naturalized citizen. The alien, while enjoying the 
protection of the government, is exempt from performing military 
duty, or from the payment of money to secure such exemption, 
and is excluded only from some civil rights. 

The State is divided into 73 counties, 54 of which are organized 
for judicial purposes, the assessment and collection of taxes, &c. 
Tlie county olfieers consist of a Board of Commissioners, Trea- 
surer, Auditor, Sheriff", Clerk of District Court, Judge of Probate, 
Reo-ister of Deeds, Surveyor, Attorney, Court Commissioner, and 
Coroner. Nearly all the organized counties are subdivided into 
townships, each of which elects its own officers, which consist of 
three Supervisors, Town Clerk, Assessor, two Justices of the Peace, 
two Constables, and an Overseer of Highways for each road 
district. 

TAXATION. 

The maintenance of the complicated machinery of government 
in a new country, where all institutions grow from the root, must 
be greater, relatively to the ability of the people, than in an old 



POLITICAL AND SOCIAL INSTITUTIONS. 53 

and wealthy community. Yet in this respect Minnesota compares 
favorably with older States. Outside of some of our largest 
towns taxation is as low as in most of the Eastern States. The 
total State tax is but five mills on the dollar of valuation, and 
this valuation is invariably less than half the true value of the 
property. The local taxes differ in different counties and towns, 
the amount being dependent upon the extent of local improve- 
ments, and the good or bad management of county and township 
Affairs. 

PROPERTY. 

The following is a statement of the assessed valuation of the 
real and personal property of Minnesota for the years named : 

Real Estate. Personal Property. Total. 

1862 - $24,791,888.31 $5,040,831.40 $29,832,719.71 
1869 - 57,996,957.00 20,245,959.00 78,242,916.00 

— showing the total value of property to have nearly thribbled in 
the seven years from 1862 to 1869. 

But the above by no means shows the actual value of property, 
in consequence of the custom of assessing it at only a fraction of 
its real worth. The following statement shows more nearly the 
real value, being an estimate founded upon known facts and 
a.ctual sales : 

Value of land and improvements outside the limits 

of cities and towns, - - - - $81,500,000 

Lots in cities and towns, and improvements, • - 38,500,000 



Total value of real estate, - - $120,000,000 

Total value of personal property, - - 65,000,000 



Giving a grand total of - - - $185,000,000 

DISTRIBUTION AND IMPROVEMENT OF LANDED PROPERTY. 

The question of the concentration or distribution of landed pro- 
perty is deeply interesting as affecting the character and tendencies 
of modern civilization. Tlie disbelievers in popular institutions 
affirm that while there is room and verge enough for surplus popu- 
lation, our cheap soil" and abundant food will postpone the evil 
■day, but as the rich grow inevitably richer, and the poor poorer, 
in the process of time the social problems which have convulsed 
Europe will one day clamor for solution among us, and bring the 
real test of our status among the nations of the earth. They 
point to England, whence came the seed of much that has already 



54 MINNESOTA. 

attained to stalwart growth among us. There, the process of ab- 
sorption has gone on so irrevocably that half the landed property 
of the island is in the hands of oOO owners, and the bread question 
is a more unsolved and momentous problem than ever. 

Whatever force there may be in these evil prognostications, the 
liberties or the civilization of a people cannot be seriously threat- 
ened where, other things being equal, there is a wide and growing 
distribution of landed property among the people, and where the 
cultivators are also the owners of the soil, dictating the laws by 
which they are governed and the conduct of the common affairs in 
which they are most interested. As showing at last tendencies in 
a right direction, the following comparative statement of the num- 
ber of soil proprietors in Minnesota will be interesting : 

Number of land owners in 1864, ... 50,805 
Number of land owners in 1869, - - - 73,121 

— showing an increase in five j-ears of 22,316, or 43.9 per cent. 
But the rabid fever for speculation which prior to 1857 raged so 
extensively, that slow-moving industry was left far behind in the 
race for gain, was also a distributor of property in its peculiar 
way. It can hardly be considered a healtliful or encouraging 
movement where property passes from hand to hand in the course 
of excited traffic without cultivation or development. The follow- 
ing statement is, therefore, valuable, as exhibiting the rapid im- 
provement of the land which was once used so largely as a means- 
for speculation : 

Number of improved farms in 1864, - - 23,787 

" '^ " 1869, - - 45,740 

— being an increase in five years of 21,953, or 92.2 per cent., ex- 
hibiting the fact that while the number of land owners has increased 
43.9, which is a gratifying circumstance as evidencing the distri- 
bution of landed wealth, the development of such wealth as shown 
in the improvement of farms has advanced 92.2, or more than 
twice as rapidly. 

Similar movements are seen in the following statement, relative 
to lots within the various cities and towns : 

Number of lot owners in 1864, . • - - 25,084 

" " " 1869, - . - - 37,580 

Number improved lots in 1864, . - - 14,900 

" « " 1869, - - - 23,842 . 

— showing an increase of 49.8 per cent, in the number of lot 
owners, and of 60 per cent, in the number of improved lots, and 



POLITICAL AND SOCIAL INSTITUTIONS. 55 

further illustrating the fact before adverted to, that the idle and 
unproductive traffic in town lots which characterized the early 
settlement of the State, has given place to a rational exchange and 
steady development of this species of property, affording the best 
evidence of advancing and enduring prosperity. 

The subject will receive further illustration by the^^following 
statement : 

1850. 1860. 1864. 1869. 

No. acres in private hands, 6,404,491 11,000,000 

No. of improved farms, - 157 18,081 23,787 45,740 
Whole No. acres improved 

land, - - 1,900 433,267 575,000 1,690,000 

HOMESTEAD EXEMPTION. 

A very liberal law exists in Minnesota for the protection of the 
homes of her people against the etfect of sudden reverses by which 
innocent families are liable to be thrown houseless upon the world's 
cold charities. The following is the language of the law of this 
State exempting homesteads from liability for debt : 

" That a homestead consisting of any quantity of land not exceeding 
eighty acres, and the dwelling house thereon and its appurtenances, to be 
selected by the owner thereof, and not included in any incorporated town, 
city, or village, or instead thereof, at the option of the owner, a quantity 
of land not exceeding in amount one lot, being within an incorporated 
towij, city, or village, and the dwelling-house thereon and its appurten- 
ances, owned and occupied by any resident of this State, shall not be 
subject to attachment, levy, or sale, upon any execution or any other 
process issuing out of any court within this State. This section shall be 
deemed and construed to exempt such homestead in the manner aforesaid 
during tlie time it shall be occupied by the widow or minor child or 
children of any deceased person who was, when living, entitled to the 
benefits of this act." 

Thus, without regard to cost — whether it be a cottage or a 
palace — the sanctities of home are guarded by the protecting arm 
of the law. 

It is not improbable that advantage is sometimes taken of the 
liberal provisions of this law to cover the knaveries of dishonest 
men. This is a liability from which few humane laws are exempt ; 
but there can hardly be serious danger in enactments which merely 
err on the side of mercy. 

There is also a liberal exemption of personal property, consisting 
of the family bible, pictures, school books, musical instruments, 
church pew, cemetery lot, all wearing apparel, beds, stoves, and 
furniture not exceeding $500 in value ; also a certain number of 
cows, sheep, and working team, with a year's food for the same ; a 



56 MINNESOTA. 

wagon, sleigh, aucl farming implements not exceeding $100 in 
value ; also a year's supplj' of family provisions or growing crops, 
and fuel, and seed gi-ain not exceeding 50 bushels each of wheat 
and oats, 5 of potatoes, and 1 of corn ; also mechanics' or miners' 
tools, with 8400 worth of stock-in-trade, and the library and im- 
plements of professional men. 

LAW OF DESCENT. 

When a person in this State dies possessing lands, &c., which 
have not been otherwise lawfull}^ devised, his property descends, 
subject to his debts : 1st, in equal shares to his children and to 
the lawful issue of any deceased child ; 2ud, if without children, 
to his widow during her life, and after her decease to his father, 
and directly to his father when no child or widow is left ; 3rd, if 
no child or father be left, then to his widow during her natural 
life, and after her decease, in equal shares to his brothers and 
sisters, and also to his mother, if she be left; and so on to more 
distant relatives, the law regulating the descent of real property 
in a regular and equitable manner. 

LEGAL PRACTICE. 

Pleading in this State is according to what is known as " the 
code," substantially as practiced in New York. 



CHARITABLE INSTITUTIONS. 

The State has made generous provision for the maintenance and 
care of various classes of the unfortunate poor among her people. 

A noble building has been erected at Faribault, and provided 
with ever}' requisite for the care and education of the deaf and 
dumb and blind. There were 66 pupils in this institution in 1869. 

A large building is being erected by sections, as required, at 
St. Peter, for the care and treatment of the insane, where 161 of 
these unfortunate persons were cared for in 1869. 

A school for the reformation of depraved children destitute of 
proper protection and home influences, has been provided near St. 
Paul. A suitable and convenient building was erected in 1869, 
and additional land has been obtained for the employment of the 
inmates in farming and gardening operations. 

POOR. 

Although there are very few poor people in a State where food 
and labor are readily obtainable, yet provision has been made for 
their support by the several counties in the State. In several of 



INSTITUTIONS. 57 

these, comfortable homes have been provided for the, decrepid and 
destitute, and farms opened where such as are able may partially 
repay the cost of their support by their labor. Reports from half 
the counties in the State show that in 1869 there were 320 indi- 
gent persons maintained at an expense of $28,612.75, and that 
the proceeds of their labor amounted to $8,866.02. 

POST OFFICES. 

There were 465 post offices in Minnesota in 1862. In 1869 the 
number had increased to 594, In 113 of these there were 2,067,- 
■071 letters received for delivery in 1869. 

NEWSPAPERS. 

There are in all about 75 newspapers, periodicals, and maga- 
zines published in Minnesota. 

RELIGION. 

The number of churches, clergymen, and members of the several 
religious denominations in Minnesota, in 1869, was about as 
.follows : 

Ch 

Methodists, including Scandinavians, 

German Methodists, 

Presbyterians (Old School,) - 

Presb3'terians (New School,) 

Congregationalists, - - - 

Baptists, - - - - 

Universalists, _ _ . 

Episcopalians, - - " - 

German Lutheran, - - - 

Scandinavian Augustina Synod, - 

Scandinavian Wisconsin Synod about as large as the Augustina 
Synod. 

Catholics : whole number of priests, 58 ; churches, 105 ; stations, 
89 ; with a total population, in 1858, of about 80,000 of Catholic 
sympathies and affiliations. 

SUNDAY SCHOOLS. 

The number of Sunday Schools in 1869 was 766, and scholars 
44,152. 

MASONS AND ODD FELLOWS. 

There were in 1869, 5,500 Masons and 1,157 Odd Fellows in 
the State* 



arches. 


Clergymen. 


Members, 


76 


129 


8,214 


38 


46 


2,050 


53 


43 


1,600 


46 


44 


2,285 


68 


60 


2,581 


143 


99 


4,728 


15 


11 




43 


42 


2,400 


75 


41 


8,744 


30 


25 


4,735 



58 MINNESOTA. 



PUBLIC LANDS. 

HOW AND WHERE TO GET THEJJl. 

According to the latest survej-s and estimates, the total area of 
Minnesota is 51,701,760 acres. 

Of this total there are in the hands of private 

owners about .... 11,000,000 

Held by railroads, schools, &c., about - 11,000,000 

— being a total absorption of 22,000,000 acres of the public lands, 
and leaving an area of nearly 30,000,000 acres — more than half 
of the entire State — :for the landless and poor of all nations of 
the earth to enter in and possess. Here is a domain abounding 
in all the elements of health, beaut}-, and fertility — an area nearl}"- 
as large as all the New England States, larger than many of the 
principalities of Europe, which awaits the developing hand of the 
frugal and industrious among all classes and conditions of men. 

FREE FARMS IN MINNESOTA. 

Under the provisions of the homestead law, eveiy settler wha 
is the head of a family, and a citizen or intended citizen of the 
United States, may become the owner of a farm of 160 acres 
without paying for it, by simply cultivating and residing upon the 
land for five years, and paying the fees of the land officers. And 
this land thus acquired without cost is exempt by law from lia- 
bility for all debts previously contracted. 

This privilege of obtaining free farms under the homestead law 
is shared by women equally with men, whether widows or unmar- 
ried ladies. The vast region thus open to free settlement comprises 
every variety- of prairie and timber land, and tracts having both, 
and much of it is rich in minerals and supplies of pine lumber. 
In some places smooth level prairie and heavy timber abruptly 
come together ; in others, the laud is covered with a growth of 
bushes and small trees, with frequent groves and oak openings and 
belts of timber. In nearly every loctility numerous lakes and 
streams water and beautify the countiy, while the soil is a quick, 
dark loam, which will yield every product known in the temperate 
zone. 

Here every man may enjoy the reward of his labor, and become 
an independent land proprietor. However poor, he possesses 
equal rights and equal political opportunities with the rich and 
prosperous. He is governed by those whom he may choose to 



PUBLIC LANDS. 59' 

elect; and he may himself, if capable and persevering, become the 
highest officer in the land. Minnesota invites the honest and 
industrious, however poor and friendless, to make themselves free 
homes in a country thus blessed with equal laws, a healthy climate, 
and a fertile soil. The manner in which this may be done is 
pointed out as follows : 

LAND OFFICES. 

For the convenience of all who may wish public lands, seven 
government land districts have been established in the State, in 
each of which is a land office. In each of these are two officers,, 
called Register and Receiver, who conduct the business. The 
place of location of these offices, and the names of the officers, 
are as follows : 

1st. For a district 30 miles wide, and extending from east to 
west through the State, along the south line, office at Jackson, in 
Jackson County. Register, J. B. Wakefield ; Receiver, E. P. 
Freeman. 

2nd. For a district 60 miles wide, extending east and west 
immediately north of the last named, office at New Ulm, in Brown 
County. Register, Tillson Tibbetts ; Receiver, J. C. Rudolph. 

3rd. For a district 30 miles wide, north of the above, office at 
Litchfield, in Meeker County. Register, J. M. Waldron ; Receiver, 
J. C. Braden. 

4th. For a district 24 miles wide, extending to the west line 
of the State, north of the 3rd, and also extending through the 
centre of the State northward, to the north boundary, office at St. 
Cloud. Register, C. A. Oilman ; Receiver, T. C. McClure. 

5th. For a district embracing the northwest portion of the 
State, along the Red River and the north boundary line, office at 
Alexandria, in Douglas County. Register, L. K. Aaker ; Re- 
ceiver, J. H. Vandyke. 

6th. For a district lying between district last named and the St. 
Croix River, office at Taylor's Falls, in Chisago County. Register, 
J. P. Owens ; Receiver, L. K. Stannard. 

7th. For tlie remainder of the State, comprising the territory 
bounded by Lake Superior, by British America, and by districts 
5 and 6, office at Duluth. Register, Ansell Smith ; Receiver, W^ 
H. Feller. 

CLASSES OF PUBLIC LANDS. 

There are three classes of public lands — 

1st. All lands outside the 10-mile limits of the lines of the 



60 MINNESOTA. 

several land-grant railroads in this State. These are held at 
SI. 25 per acre. 

2nd. All public lands comprising the even numbered sections 
within the 10-mile limits of railroad grants, which are $2.50 per 
acre. 

3rd. The lands formerly reserved for the Sioux Indians, which, 
until offered for sale, are subject to pre-emption by actual settlers 
at their appraised value. 

The two first may be had at all the land offices, and the third' 
at the New Ulm and Litchfield offices only. 

THE SEVERAL MODES AND COST OF OBTAINING LAND. 

Compiled from official sources by J. C. Braden, Esq., Receiver U. S. Land 
Office at Litchfield. 

HOMESTEADS. 

Under the homestead law, the government grants the settler surveyed 
public lands to the value of $200 — that is, 160 acres, at $1.25 per acre, or 
80 acres at §2.50 per acre. 

To obtain homesteads, the party must, in connection with liis applica- 
tion, make an aflidavit before the Register or Receiver that he is over the 
age of 21 years, or the head of a family; that he is a citizen of the United 
States, or has declared his intention to become such ; and that the entry 
is made for his exclusive use and benefit, and for actual settlement and 
cultivation. 

This aflidavit may be made before the clerk of the court of the county 
within which the party is an actual resident. The fees and commissions 
for homesteads, when the entry is made, are as follows : 



Acres. 




Fees, 


Com?. 


Total 


160 outside railroad limits, 


- 


- §10 


§4 


§14 


80 " " " 




5 


2 


7 


40 


- 


5 


1 


6 


80 within railroad limits, 




10 


4 


14 


40 


_* 


5 


2 


7 



Having complied with these requirements, and paid the fees as above, 
the claimant acquires an " inceptive right " to the homestead. He must 
then reside upon and cultivate the land continuously for five years, and 
at the expiration of that period, or within two years thereafter, he must 
furnish proper proof to the land offlcers of such settlement and cultiva- 
tion, and make further payment of fees at the above rates, whereupon a 
certificate of Final Proof will be issued, and returns made to the General 
Land Office at Washington, upon which a patent, in due time, will be 
•executed, conferring complete title to the homestead. 

In making final proof on a homestead, the testimony of two witnesses 
as to settlement and cultivation is required, and they must have known 
the homestead settler during all the time he has made settlement on the 
land. 

When a homestead settler dies before the consummation of his claim, 



PUBLIC LANDS. Gl 

the heirs may continue the settlement and cultivation, and obtain title 
upon requisite proof at the proper time. 

When both parents die, leaving infant heirs, the homestead may be- 
sold for cash for the benefit of such heirs, and the purchaser will receive 
a title from the United States. 

The sale of a homestead claim to another party by the settler is not 
recognized, and not only vests no title or equities in the puixhaser, but 
is prima facie evidence of abandonment, and gives cause for cancellation 
of the claim. 

When application is made for the cancellation of a homestead entry 
on the ground of abandonment, the party must file his aflldavit with the 
local land ofticers, setting forth the facts upon which his allegations are 
founded, desci'ibiug the tract and giving the name of .the settler. Upon 
this the oflicers will set apart a day for a hearing, giving all the parties 
interested due notice of the time and place of trial. After the trial the 
land ofticers will transmit the testimony, with their joint report, for the 
action of the Commissioner of the General Land Office. The expenses 
incident to such a contest must be defrayed by the contestant, and no 
entry of the land can be niade until the local oflScers have received notice 
from the General Land Office of the cancellation of the entry covering 
the same. 

The law allows but one homestead privilege : a second entry cannot 
be made. When a person has settled upon surveyed land, and filed his 
Declaratory Statement therefor, he may change his filing into a home- 
stead, when no adverse right has intervened; in such cases he must per- 
fect his title under the pre-emption laws. 

If the homestead settler does not wish to remain five years on his tract 
the law permits him (after a residence and cultivation of at least six 
months,) to pay for it with cash or warrants, upon making proof of 
settlement of cultivation from the date of entry to the time of payment, 
the proof of actual settlement and cultivation being the affidavit of the 
party, corroborated by the testimony of two credible witnesses. 

There is another class of homesteads, designated as *' adjoining farm 
homesteads." In these cases the law allows an applicant, oioning and 
residing on an original farm, to enter other land lying contiguous thereto, 
which shall not, with such farm, exceed in the aggregate 160 acres 
Thus, for example, a party owning or occupying 80 acres, may enter 80 
additional of $L25 or 40 acres of $2.50 land. In entries of " adjoinin"- 
farms," the settler must describe in his affidavit the tract he owns and is 
settled upon as his original farm. Actual residence on the tract entered 
as an adjoining farm is not required, but bona Jide improvement and culti- 
vation of it must be shown for the period required by the statute. 

Lauds obtained under the homestead laws are exempted from liability 
for debts contracted prior to the issuing of patent therefor. 

Women equally with men share the benefits of the homestead law, 
and instances are not unfrequent in which single ladies have availed 
themselves of their right to a homestead. 

The homestead settler is allowed six months from date of entry 
Avithin which to make settlement on his claim ; thereafter continuous 
settlement and cultivation is required. 

If the homestead settler fails to make final proof of settlement and 



62 MINNESOTA. 

cultivation within seven years from date of entry, he forfeits all rights 
under the homestead law. and there is no provision of law for his relief.. 

PKE-EMPTIONS. 

Under the laws regulating pre-emptions, a settler, after making a 
certain declaratory statement, is permitted to occupy and use IGO acres 
of either class of public lands in advance of payment therefur, on condition 
of actually residing upon and cultivating the land. 

When the tract thus desired is among the lands which have been 
offered at public sale, the party must file with the District Land Office his 
declaratory statement as to the fact of settlement within thirly days from 
the date of said settlement, and within one year from that date, must 
appear before the Register and Receiver and make proof of actual resi- 
dence on and cultivation of the tract, and secuix- the same by paying cash, 
or by filing warrant duly assigned to the pre-eraptor. 

Wiien the tract has been surveyed, and not oflored at public sale, the 
claimant must file within three months from date of settlement; upon 
U7isurveyed land, the claimant must file notice of settlement within three 
months after the receipt of the township plat of survey at the District 
Land Office; and in both cases proof and payment must be made before 
the day designated in President's proclamation for offering the lauds at 
public sale. The fee for a declaratory statement is $2. 

A residence of at least six months on the tract, after date of settle- 
ment, by the pre-emptor is required before proof and payment can be 
made. A small expense attends making such pi oof. 

Should the settler in either of the aforesaid cases die before establish- 
ing his claim within the period limited by law, the title may be perfected 
by the executor, administrator, or one of the heirs, by making the requi- 
site proof of settlement and paying for the land, the entry to be made in 
the name of " the heirs," and the patent will be issued accordingly. 

No person who is the owner of 320 acres of land in any State or 
Territory in the Linited States, or who quits or abandons his residence 
on his own laud to reside on the public laud in the same State or Terri- 
tory, can pre-empt. 

Any person being the head of a family, or widow, or single man over 
the age of twenty-one years, being a citizen of the United States, or 
having filed his declaration of intention to become a citizen, is entitled 
to the right of pre-emption, as is also a single woman of 21 years. 

The pre-emptive I'ight exists but once, neither can a person legally 
file but one declaratory statement. The claimant can only pre-empt the 
area of laud embraced in his declaratory statement, — no more, no less, — 
that is, he canuot file upon IGO acres and pre-empt 80, or the reverse. 

PUBLIC SALES. 

The President of the United States from time to time, at his discre- 
tion, issues a proclamation desiguating the times and places when and 
where certain portions of the public lands will be sold at auction. They 
are usually ofiered in parcels of 80 acres, and are sold to the highest 
bidder, who receives immediately a certificate or receipt, and in due time 
a patent completing his title. 



PUBLIC LANDS, 63 

After the advertised lands have been duly exposed to pul)lic sale, such 
as remain unsold are subject to private " entry" for cash, or "location" 
'by land warrants or scrip. 

PRI^'ATE ENTRY. 

Upon a written application to the register of the proper land office, 
designating the location and area of the land desired, the applicant may 
at once purchase such tract, if vacant, by paying the required price, which 
is either $1.25 or $2.50 per acre. Duplicate receipts are issued by the 
receiver, one of which is delivered to the purchaser, and the other foi'- 
warded to the General Land Office, upon which a patent will be issued 
and returned to the local land office, for delivery to the purchaser upon 
surrender of his duplicate receipt. Purchasers by private entry are not 
limited to any particular quantity of land. No fee for cash entries. 

LOCATIONS WITH WARRANTS. 

Application must be made as in cash cases, but must be accompanied 
by a warrant duly assigned as the consideration for the land ; yet wheii 
the tract is $2.50 per acre, the party, in addition to the surrendered war- 
rant, must pay in cash .$1.25 per acre, as the warrant is in satisfaction 
of only so many acres at $1.25 per acre as are contained in the tract 
located. A duplicate certificate of location will then be furnished the 
party, to be held until the patent is delivered, as in cases of cash sales. 

AGRICULTURAL COLLEGE SCRIP. 

This scrip is applicable to lands not mineral, ^which may be subject to 
private entry at $1.25 per acre, yet is restricted to a technical " quarter 
section," that is, "lands embraced by the quarter' section lines indicated on 
the official plats of sui'vey ; or it may be located on a|)a/'i of a ^^ quarter 
section," when such part is taken as in full for a quarter; but it cannot be 
applied to difterent subdivisions to make an area equivalent to a quarter 
section. 

The location of this scrip is restricted to three sections in each town- 
ship of land. 

The manner of proceeding to acquire title with scrip is the same as is 
required with cash or warrants. The land office fees attending the loca- 
tion of warrants or scrip is $1 for each 40 acres. 



STATE LANDS. 

The sixteenth and thirty-sixth sections in each township have 
been granted by Congress to the State, for the support of common 
scliools. The total amount thus acquired will eventually exceed 
2,800,000 of acres. Minnesota has also received about 146,000 
acres in aid of the State Universit}- and Agricultural College. An 
excellent S3-stem for the gradual sale of these lands has been 
devised. They are placed under the conti-ol of the State Auditor, 
as Land Commissioner, and provision is made for their appraisal at 



64 MINNESOTA. 

a price not below $5 per acre, and each year a quantity of these 
lands is offered at public sale in the several counties. The pur- 
chaser is required to pay in cash 15 per cent, of the amount of hia 
bid for prairie land, and 25 to 75 per cent, for timber land, accord- 
ing to the value of such timber. On the remainder of the pur- 
chase money the purchaser is granted a credit of 20 years, at 7 
per cent, interest, payable yearly, in advance ; or he may at any 
time within that period pay the whole amount, receive a deed at 
once, and thus stop the accruing of interest. 

These advantageous terms attract crowds of purchasers at the 
annual sales. The small sum required in cash enables the 
purchaser to employ his means for the improvement of the land, 
and frequently the profits of a single crop cover its original cost, 
while the land generall}^ increases in value many fold long before 
final payment is required. 

RAILROAD L.VNDS. 

The several railroad companies of this State offer large bodies 
of lands lying along the routes of their roads, the facilities for 
transportation of farm products thus afforded rendering such lands 
very desirable. 

The Southern Minnesota Railroad Company offer a variety of 
lands of good quality, at from $3 to S8 per acre, upon long time, 
with reasonable interest. Office at La Crosse, Wis. 

The Winona and St. Peter Railroad Company confine their 
sales to actual settlers, to whom they offer land at $5 per acre,, 
the purchaser paying three years' interest in advance, at 7 per 
cent., and the principal, after the expiration of that time, in four 
annual instalments. This road traverses an excellent country. 
Oltice at Winona. 

The First Division St. Paul and Pacific Railroad Company offer 
lands along both their main and branch roads, at from $o to $10 
per acre for cash, or on ten years' credit at 7 per cent, interest. 
These lands embrace a great variety of timber land, praii'ie, and 
meadow, Ortice at St. Paul. 

The Lake Superior and Mississippi Railroad Company sell their 
lands at from §4 to §8 per acre, npon a long credit, at 7 per cent, 
interest, the purchaser having the privilege of making full payment 
at any time. There is little or no prairie among these lands, but 
they comprise a variety of openings and forests of pine and hard 
wood and abound in meadows and lakes and deposits of minerals. 
This road, when completed, will afford the shortest and most 
direct transit to the seaboard. Ollice at St. Paul. 



MANNER AND COST OF STARTIN© FARMS. 65 

The St. Paul and Sioux City Railroad Company offer lands at ^r> 
to $10 per acre — one-tenth cash, one-tenth in one year, and balance 
. n four equal annual pa3'ments, at 7 per cent, interest in advance. 
This road traverses the valley of the Minnesota River, and will 
eventually be a branch of the Union Pacific Railroad. These 
lands embrace both heavy timber and prairie. 

The Milwaukee and St. Paul Railway Company offer their lands 
upon similar advantageous terms. Office at Faribault. 

PRIVATE LANDS. 

Unimproved lands in the hands of private owners, accessibly 
situated among settlements, and frequently within five to eight 
miles of large towns, which afford good markets for vegetables and 
dairy products, can be purchased at from $4 to Slo per acre, 
partially upon credit. Lands of fair quality are offered at $5 to 
$20 per acre, within ten miles of St. Paul, a city of 19,000 
inhabitants, where high city prices are eagerly paid for all garden 
and dairy products, and where manure for enriching second-rate 
land is gladly given to farmers who will haul it away ! Similar 
opportunities are presented in the vicinity of other large and 
growing towns. 

Farms of various degrees of improvement are frequentlj^ offered 
for sale at from $12 to $40 per acre, such price being often less 
than the cost of the buildings and fences. These cases occur not 
from tlie undesirable character of the propert}^ so much as from the 
restlessness and love of change characteristic of Western people. 



MANNER AND COST OF STARTING FARMS. 

A settler can take a homestead embracing portions both of 
woodland and prairie, and by working at wages for six months 
before occupying it, earn a little money for a start, and then by 
tact and industry can gradually carve himself a home with scarcely 
an appreciable outlay of actual cash. An expenditure of $40 for 
sash, doors, &c , will complete a cabin in which a family maj^ be 
sheltered comfortably. If sufficient timber grows upon the land, 
fencing and sheds may be constructed by the farmer's own hands 
which will answer a good temporary purpose. The abundance 
of unoccupied land affords a wide range of free pasturage for his 
stock, which relieves him from the necessity of division fences. 
Posts planted firmly in the groun'l with forked ends upward, for 
the reception of strong beams upon which cross poles are laid, and 
9 



06 MINNESOTA. 

then threshed straw stacked thereon, afford good shelter for stock 
— much better in our dry cold winters than in the sloppy, murky, 
and chilly winters further south. 

If the settler be provided with some means, and aims at larger 
operations and quicker results, he can take smooth prairie land, 
and, if the situation be not too remote, can make the required 
improvements with sawed lumber. To enclose 160 acres will 
require two miles of fence, the lumber for which is cut into boards 
one inch thick, six inches wide, and 16 feet long, two lengths of 
these counting as one according to board measure. Tamarack 
affords good posts, and oak, locust, and pine are also frequently 
used. These are set into the ground eight feet apart and the 
boards nailed to them. At the present prices of lumber and nails 
in the St. Paul market, the materials necessary for enclosing a 
quarter section of 160 acres will cost about §540. The additional 
cost of the material will depend upon the remoteness of the land ; 
and of the completed fence, upon the price of labor paid for set- 
ting it. The cost of the necessary lumber for a one-story frame 
house 16 by 22 feet is from $75 to $100, and the total cost of the 
completed house, from 8350 to §500. These figures will serve as 
a basis for calculation, larger tracts being fenced and larger 
houses constructed at proportionably less cost. A cheaper fence 
is made by throwing high furrows together forming a ridge, into 
which are driven small posts sharpened at one end. To these, 
two boards are nailed, forming, with the ridge of earth beneath, a 
fence sufficiently high and strong to answer a good purpose, if 
well constructed. Farm horses are §75 to §150 each; cows, §25 
to §40 ; and oxen, §60 to §200 per yoke. First " breaking " costs 
§2.50 to §3.00 per acre for clean prairie, and from §5 to §8 for 
brush land. These prices will afford sufficient clue to allow of 
close estimates for different scales of operations, to which may 
be added the fact that the total cost of producing an acre of wheat 
beginning on new land, purchasing the seed, and hiring all the 
labor, and including interest on the cost of the land, ranges from 
§8 to §15 per acre. Where the latter is the expense, it is plain 
that there must be a good yield or a high price, or both, to re- 
compense the cost of production. Just now Minnesota wheat 
growers are suffering from low prices for a crop which from a 
conjunction of cu'cumstances was unusually costly to produce — 
wiping out completely their margin of profit. But usually there 

a profit of from §4 to §15 per acre on wheat, and fre<iuently 
much greater. Wisdom, however, teaches a diversification of 
Husbandry which shall place the farmer beyond the \icissitudes of 

single crop. 



WHAT MONEY CAN DO. 67 

WHEN TO COMMENCE. 

To the man of means any portion of the year is a favorable 
time for coming to Minnesota. But to the mechanic or laborer, 
and especially the poor man who expects his support from the 
soil, the value of time is an important consideration. As a rule, 
the fall is the worst time for the two first named to come, while 
early spring is probably the best for all. If the immigrant 
reaches his land by the middle of June, he is too late to pro- 
duce most crops the same season, but he is yet in time for corn, 
potatoes, and turnips. For the first, let him turn over the 
virgin sod, chop holes therein with an axe and drop in tlie seed, 
which, if the season be favorable, especially a wet one, will pro- 
duce a tolerable crop. The second may be dropped into the fur- 
row and covered by the plough with the tough sod, and will grow 
through it ; while turnip seed may be sown on the freshly turned 
sod and very slightly covered. June is the best month for break- 
ing wild land, especially prairie, while the breaking season should 
not begin earlier than the middle of May nor be prolonged be^'ond 
the first of August. A particular stage of vegetation of the over- 
turned sod is necessaiy for its rapid decay, and frequentl}^ more 
harm than good to land which is first unseasonably plowed. 

WHAT MONEY CAN DO. 

Of course capital, directed by sagacity and enterprise, possesses 
great advantages in Minnesota as elsewhere ; indeed the new 
avenues being continually opened by the rapid development of a 
bountiful new country like Mimiesota, multiply the opportunities 
for its profitable employment. There is scarcely a reputable voca- 
tion of any kind wherein the same capital and good management 
which insure success in Eastern communities, will not yield far 
greater returns here. The legal rate of interest, when not stipu- 
lated, is 7 per cent., but any rate agreed upon not exceeding 12 
per cent, is lawful. At the latter rate money may be safely loaned 
amply secured by mortgage. Judicious investments in real 
estate, owing to the rapid settlement and development of the 
country, are sure to realize large profits. Purchases both of city 
lots and farming lands can be made almost anywhere at all times 
which will command an advance of 25 to 50 per cent, within a 
year, and not unfrequently such advance is 100 to 200 per cent, 
annually. The time was when this could be done without dis- 
crimination b}^ the venturer, the sole condition of acquiring 
fancied wealth being to take hold ! Now good judgment is re- 
quired to cause real estate or any active business to yield better 
returns than money commands at interest. And that is just 



68 MINNESOTA. 

the difference between 1857 and 1870 — the difference between the 
senseless contagion of wild excitement, and the cheerful exercise 
of alert and sober good sense. 

WHAT PLUCK AND MUSCLE MAY DO. 

Great as are the unquestionable advantages which a union of 
money and industry possesses here as elsewhere, there is no country 
under the sun where unaided muscle, with a plucky purpose, reaps 
greater rewards than under the bright skies and helpful atmosphere 
of this fair land. Feeling himself every inch a man as he gazes 
upon the unclaimed acres which shall reward his toil, the settler 
breathes a freer air, his bosom swells with a prouder purpose, and 
his strong arms achieve unwonted results. Minnesota is empha- 
ticall}^ the place for men whose capital consists of brawnj' arms and 
brave hearts. Any man possessing these, may do as thousands 
who have little else, annually do in this State — select a homestead, 
in some one of the man)- beautiful and fertile regions into which 
railroads are rapidly penetrating, after which, being allowed six 
months before settling upon the land, he ma}' work upon the rail- 
road or upon a neighboring farm, and earn enough money to 
make a start as his own master in a small way ; and by the 
time he produces a surplus, the railroad is at his door to take it 
to market — he finds himself not a lone settler, encountering the 
hardships of frontier life, but in dail}'^ communication with the 
busy world, and the proud possessor of a valuable farm which has 
cost him little but the sweat of his brow. 

EXAMPLES OF SUCCESSFUL FARMING. 

Let a few cases be cited as to what has been accomplished by 
different classes of settlers. 

A capitalist, a lawyer by profession, failing iu health, engaged in farm- 
ing on a large scale, using money to improve and conduct operations in 
the best manner, realized these results : On three fiirms of 2,000 acres, 
1,700 were in wheat. His yield iu 1867 was 35,700 bushels, gross price 
$53,550, profits §14,500; 18G3, yield 39,000 bushels, net proflls sS20,400. 
His prolits would have been larger, except for the extremely high prices 
which ruled in 1866 — seed wheat costing §2. 50 per bushel, with corres- 
ponding disbursements for first breaking and other expenses. These ex- 
penses include interest on the capital employed in land, stock, implements, 
&c. The original cost of the land averaged about 312 per acre; so that 
after allowing amply for the expenses of building, fencing, and other 
improvements, the net profits on two years' crops were more than sufll- 
cient to cover the whole, while the market value of the land and improve- 
ments is to-day nearly or quite three times their first cost. 

A Swede, who settled first in Illinois, and there caught the '' chills and 
fever," after losing much time and money in the vain eflbrt to recover his 
health, came to Minnesota lean, depressed, and poor, with a remnant . 



EXAMPLES OF SUCCESSFUL FARMING. 69 

$2.50 as his fortune to start auew. He worked amoug the farmers until 
he had saved enough to purchase a span of horses and a few implements, 
and then purchased 120 acres of land at $12 per acre, paying in hand a 
merely nominal sum, and agreeing to pay the balance in three annual in- 
stalments, with 7 per cent, interest, the first payment to be made when 
he should have obtained his first crop from the land. JEle sowed his 
entire farm in wheat, which produced 20 bushels per acre, making an 
aggregate of 2,400 bushels, which he sold at $2.50 per bushel, or a total 
of $G,000, paying for the land four times over with a single crop ; and 
'after paying for land, expenses, and improvements, leaving a clear balance 
of $3,000. He then sold his farm for $27 per acre, or a total of $3,240, 
which, added to his net profits, gave him the sum of $6,240, with which 
he started anew by taking a homestead, for which he paid — nothing ! Of 
course, in this case, the extraordinary profit was greatly the result of the 
exceptionally, high price of wheat ; but it is obvious that with one-third 
such price— the expenses being also less— there would be a handsome 
margin of profit, while there are continually recurring chances of sudden 
high prices which afford brilliant results. 

A shrewd, cautious immigrant from an^astern State came to Minnesota 
in 1856 with little means, and averring that he was " not edicated nor 
smart enough to git rich by tradin' in corner lots," which was the voca- 
tion then generally pursued, concluded he would feed those who were 
thus engaged, and so quietly took up a Government 80 at $1.25 per acre, 
ten miles from St. Paul, and commenced raising vegetables, butter, 
cheese, &c., for which he realized New York prices in St. Paul : and when 
the rich speculators went down he relieved their necessities by purchasing 
their property for a song ; and he is to-day one of the solidest men in the 
State— out of debt, with money at interest, and living generously on a 
farm of 640 acres, splendidly improved and stocked with fine cattle and 
blooded horses. 

An ambitious farmer from Maine came to Minnesota at an early day, 
having little capital beyond that of an active brain and skillful hands. 
Captivated with the appearance of our smooth rich prairies, contrasted 
with the bleak hills he had left in Maine, he committed the common mis- 
take of buying too much land, by which he kept himself poor and em- 
barrassed through many weary years of struggle. But by persistent 
efiTort and the wonderful aid of labor-saving machinery, he managed to 
obtain each year a larger margin of profit, until finally a lucky year of 
high prices made his fortune, whereupon he rented his farm for a third 
of the crop, upon which he lives at his ease on $4,000 a year. 

A Mr. William Buck settled in Mower County in 1856. He had sufli- 
cient means to purchase 480 acres of land at Government price, upon 
which he went to work. His labor was reasonably rewarded. After 
seven years of hard toil and economical living, he began the erection of 
a handsome residence, which he finished in 1864. His barn will accom- 
modate 160 head of horses and cattle, 225 tons of hay, and the bins will 
hold 10,000 bushels of grain. The upper floors are laid with two-inch 
plank. Mr. Buck last year sold $6,000 worth of stock, and has now on 
hand some 50 head of horses and forty head of cattle. He has under 
plough 220 acres, besides 120 acres in timothy grass. 
Mr. Andrew Barlow settled in Freeborn County, in October, thirteen 



70 MINNESOTA. 

years ago. He was compelled to leave his famil}' in New York for want of 
means to bear their expenses to Minnesota, and only reached here himself 
by stopping at times on the way to earn money. By industry and eco- 
nomy he accumulated enough during the first winter to send for his family 
in the following spring. He is now the owner of an excellent farm of 
320 acres, with, full equipment, including a house worth $800 and a barn 
worth .$1,000, with a partial ownership in a threshing machine. 

An immigrant from Michigan settled first in Dakota County, and after 
considerable hardship sold his claim for only SIOO. Feeling considerably 
discouraged, he was tempted to return to Michigan, where he was ofl'ered 
land to rent on very favorable terms by a relative; but he finally decided 
to make a new trial here, and with his meagre SlOO and a wagon, plough, 
and one ox, with a family of five children, and winter confronting him, 
pushed for the extreme frontier, made a *' claim," and commenced work. 
He is now independent, owning a farm for which he could take $5,000, 
besides ample stores, stock, and utensils. 

Frederick HUderbrand writes Robertson's Monthly his experience with 
a 27 acre farm near St. Paul, which he purchased over two years ago, 
in a wild state. He had been a'mechanic in the city, knew nothing of 
farming, but went into it as the only escape from early deatli. He says : 
'' I have farmed this land two years — only part in cultivation. It pays. 
Here is the result for the first year. First, we have had our living, ex- 
cept clothing and groceries, from the farm. We sold butter to customers 
to the amount of $769.60. This was the product of eight to nine cows. 
We sold eggs and chickens for $176, and pork and garden stufl" for $330; 
making in all $1269 cash income; and paid out in expenses for the help of 
a man on the farm and a girl in the house, about $300. Myself and wife, 
both being in poor health, have not done much work — and no hard work. 
We have depended almost entirely upon hired help, but I have always 
looked closely after my business and directed the work." 

A Minnesota farmer writing to the Hearth and Home, says : " A man 
rented 160 acres of newlj'-broken prairie land near me last spring, and 
got but one-half the crop; but with that he paid $2,000 for the land, 
and now owns a farm upon which $4,000 worth of grain was raised this 
year (1868,) with wheat at but a little over $1 per bushel." 

WAGES. 

Stone masons and plasterers, S4 to $5 per day i earpentersi 
$2.7o to S3.50 ; blacksmiths, $2 to $3; day laborers, $1.50 to 
§2.00 ; laborers on railroads, $1.50 to $2.00 ; farm hands, 815 to 
S25 per month ; teamsters, $30 to $60 ; choppers, $35 to $40 ; 
wages on lumber rafts, $30 to $40 ; clerks in stores, from $600 
to $1,500 per annum. 

EMPLOYMENT. 

For persons having fixed, definite occupations — for tradesmen, 
artisans, and persons skilled in mechanical work of all kinds, 
especially for those with the inclination and strength for agricul- 
tural labor, there is nearly always an active demand in Minnesota. 
For persons with that indeterminate notion of work which is limi- 
ted to the idea of " situations " there is little demand anywhere ; 



HOW AND WHO SHOULD COME TO MINNESOTA. 71 

and it ought to be understood that here there is less room for that 
class than elsewhere. This is owing to the large number of per- 
sons who seek Minnesota for health, who, having neither the 
means nor disposition to remain idle, more than supply the limited 
demand for clerks and various kinds of light labor. 

HOW TO GET TO MINNESOTA. 

Foreign immigrants landing in Portland or Quebec, may come 
westward by way of the Grand Trunk, Great Western, and Michi- 
gan Central railroads to Chicago, which is the central depot for a 
large portion of the Northwest. Those landing in New York may 
take the New York Central or New York & Erie and reach Chicago 
either by way of the Great Western and Michigan Central, or the 
Lake Shore and Michigan Southern railroads ; or they may reach 
Chicago by the Allentown, Pittsburgh & Fort Wayne route. From 
Chicago the immigrant can reach, by railway, the Mississippi at 
various places, of which La Crosse is the nearest to Minnesota. 
At any of these places he will find boats waiting to take him to 
St. Paul and intermediate stations ; or he can reach St. Paul by 
all rail, coming by way of Prairie du Chien. If his destination is 
the southern part of the State, he can land at Winona, Red Wing, 
Hastings, or some other of the landings in that section. If the 
lumber district of the northeastern portion of the State is the place 
of his visit, the steamer will take him to Stillwater, on the St. 
Croix. If he seeks the Valley of the Minnesota, he can either change 
boats at St. Paul, or take the cars there, and ascend that river. 
K bound for the Valley of the L'pper Mississippi, a railway from 
St. Paul will take him to St. Cloud, from which point he can pro- 
ceed northward or westward by stage. If the Valley of the Red 
River of the North be his destination, the cars will take him from 
St. Paul to a point within 40 miles of that river, and entirely to 
its banks probably within a few months. 

During the present year immigrants may find a more direct 
route to Minnesota through Lake Huron to Duluth, at the head of 
Lake Superior, and thence by railroad to St. Paul. 

The present fare from New York to St. Paul, is by first class 
cars, $42.95 ; by immigrant cars, $27.50 

WHO SHOULD COME TO MINNESOTA. 

Young people of either sex, however poor in cash, if rich in 
courage, hope, and strength, may be encouraged to come to Min- 
nesota at all times. It may not be advisable for those advanced 
in years, or those who are comfortably settled in old and well 
established communities, to incur the hazards incident to a 



72 BIINNESOTA. 

removal to a new country. And it should be further understood 
that the wholly destitute will encounter at first greater hardships 
here than those they seek to escape. Northern countries are 
usually more prosperous than those of languid climates, largely 
because of the greater stimulus the energies receive in guarding 
against hunger and want, for which reason it is of course more 
difficult for the feeble and destitute to find maintenance ; but to 
the thousands in the older States and in foreign countries, 
whose only resource is the labor of their hands, who, on looking 
around, see every avenue to manly independence thronged by 
jostling multitudes, and the onl}' alternative left them emigration 
or dependent labor ; to all such we offer the testimon}' of an Eng- 
lish writer — " Minnesota affords the finest and most inviting field 
for emigration in the world." Our State needs an actual settler upon 
each quarter section of her millions of unoccupied lauds, to give 
beneficent action to the idle richness slumbering in the black soil. 

A great English writer has said: " Formerly the richest coun- 
tries were those in which the products of nature were the most 
abundant, but now the richest countries are those in which man is 
the most active." In Minnesota we may justl}' claim that both 
essentials are found in full measure. Our bountiful soil ensures 
the first, and our bracing atmosphere the second. Moreover, 
thanks to tlie beneficent wisdom of that generous legislation which 
finds no parallel in the history of luiman enactments, every man 
is here given a farm upon the simple condition of laboring five 
years in his oivn service. 

The world's plaudits have too long been for men and nations 
whose power was evinced in devastation. The law of might par- 
titioned the spoil among the conquerors. It is the glory of 
America that she acquires territory b}' purchase, and distributes 
it among the landless of all nations. In Minnesota is found the 
fairest domain upon which the blessings of this new dispensation 
receive practical exemplification. A cordial welcome is extended 
to all to come and partake of the national bounty, and when, with 
all the advantages with whicli lavish nature has endowed oiu* 
State, it is considered that here also may be possessed the perfect 
health requisite for their highest enjoyment, it is not too much 
to claim that Minnesota presents uneqn;'>lled inducements to those 
in search of new homes. 



The reader is referred for further iuforiuil; •:! nf the State to J. W. McClungs 
recent work, "Minnesota as It Is in 1870," treating of the State, every country 
and town, and tlie regions northwest to tlie Pacilic. Sent by mail, post-paid, for 
81.25, by J. W McClung, St. Paul. — ^ - , -^ _ 



.-jfc 



^y, 



^r^;Sr^- — -^^^S 



'MINNESOTA: 



! I 



ITS 



RESOURCES AND PROGRES-S 



ITS 



BEAUTY, HEALTHFDLNESS AND FERTILITY; 



ANlJ ITS 



ATTRACTIONIS AND ADVANTACrES 



AS A HOME FOR IMMIGRANTS 



COMPILED BY THE COMMISSIONER OF STATISTICS, 

AND PUULTSIIED UY DIUECTIOX OF 

HORACE AUSTIN, GOVERXOR. 




ST. PAUL: 

P K E S .S P II I N T 1 N G C O M P A N x , 
1870. 




This pn,nphlf'fu-ill be sent to aivj address in America or Europe, free of postage, 
on application tofglSSm^MWM^^^^^'f^S^^S^SS!^-. 



V 



THIS PAMPHLET WILL BE SENT, FREE OF POSTAGE, 
TO THE ADDRESS OF ANY PERSON IN AMERICA 
OR EUROPE, ON APPLICATION TO 

E. PAGE DAVIS, 
Commissioner of Immigration 

FOU TUK 

STATE OF MINNESOTA, 

No. 156 BROADWAY, (ROOM 16) 

WJEW TOBK CITY. 



At this Oftice fall information will be cheerful!}^ given in 
regard to the Stute of Minnesota — where to L.OCATK OR 
PURCHASE LANDS— the best routes for reaching the 
several localities ; also aid in procuring the cheapest rates of 
fare and transportation. Attention given to the formation of 
COLONIES, and transportation to place of Settlement. 

Persons seeking homes in the West or South will find it 
greatly to their advantaf/e and i^^ofit to first communicate 
• with this ottice, either in person or by letter. 









» > '> ■»>■>». 
























. >T» .i» J »•> » J> > .>»>>>>! 
i> >:t» ^j> > > :> » > >'*-^ 

> > »? J9 ^ > -> » > >>'-J 















i >* >> 9 -.»-^ > . ^ -- _ 







ST 


'^.^^^: 


^ .> 


^T"^ """"^^^ "^ ■ -» .# T> 



~» > ^>> ^> > ,» 


















^.^ >!> »j> > !>* ) >> » :3 






>J> J» 



i^J^:. 






» > >3» :» 






- .-..;>>» .-at " ' 1 

>. i)3> j> j: 

■ » . . v»'> j> > "> 












»> » ^;> x>' J.J > >. ' 









^j> >;> > > :> > 





















,>^^ . ?> ,■»■ -> ^ >y:>> " 
■ ^-5 >-,-;>-■> :> ■->»- >v 

-> - )» ■•3.>; > . ^ .>y^5>:> ->3 > 3 

!► -1 .> ^^> ■>» > ">■ '> >■■ 

,> ■ ) )w >»> -i •■■•:> _ > 





















> > 


^J^ :> > ^ ' 


>> 


» :> > > 


> ) 


v:> > ' •■•- 


:> :> 


-■'.>--■> •> ?> 


>^ 


y > ,)^ 









:>■ > v^_>_^:>a>>:> 



i> 3 i > ■> 



^jmx» » > > jB» > --d 






>» 









~5>>^5>^5%"^ > 



:>» )J >> 



3> »»> > > ■ } y 

>> » Ti> > J - ^> >> 

» 3> »v -> .. J "> . 



:> > > ^> >> 



^^ ^ >■:> 



HBRARY OF CONGRESS 



016 096 715 8 




